Revenge of the Giant Robot Chickens by Alex McCall Page A

at Hazel. “It’s them. They fit in with the rest of us like a duck out of water.”
    Hazel glared at him. “What exactly do we have to do to convince you that we’re on your side?”
    “What do you know about this new chicken?” Noah quickly cut in, trying to keep the peace.
    Cody was watching us all with glittering eyes, Percy glowering at his shoulder. Deborah seemed annoyed but no more than usual. I looked sideways to see Blake glaring at Hazel and Hazel glaring back. Which one could be the spy?
    Hazel looked away and pulled her backpack up onto the table. “We’ve been looking into this new chicken. And we came up with this.”
    She pulled a roll of paper from her bag and spread it out on the table. It was a copy of the blueprints of the chicken we’d fought against. A title at the top said we were fighting the C-800 model.
    I looked at it, frowning. Where did she get that from?
    I wasn’t the only one. “Who gave you those?” Codyasked.
    Hazel shrugged. “We found the blueprints in one of the warehouse cupboards. I guess they must have been designing it there.” She quickly moved on. “From what we can see, this is a single-target creature. It’s got enough room to store one person. The chest opens up and the human is stored there. As soon as the chest is closed a gas is emitted, putting the prisoner to sleep.”
    “So that means it’s definitely targeting the council,” Noah said. “They’re not just scooping up random kids.”
    Hazel looked at him and nodded. “That’s right,” she said.
    “How do we beat it?” Blake asked. Hazel turned back to the blueprints.
    “It’s not going to be easy,” she told him. “The hull is bullet-proof, and resistant to electricity. The wings can be charged, shocking anyone they hit.”
    Blake rubbed his arm. “Yeah, we got that,” he said.
    Hazel looked at him and nodded absently. “Honestly? Against this, your best chance is to run.”
    “Run?” Blake shook his head. “Not an option.”
    Hazel sighed. “Use your head. The suit is super-fast and super-strong but that comes at a price. The battery isn’t very big and it won’t be able to work for long periods of time. It’s got a very simple goal: get in, get the target, get out. The further you can get the target from this thing the better your chances are that the battery will run down and it’ll have to turn back.”
    “What are we calling it?” Cody asked idly.
    “The Chickenator.” Everyone turned to look at me. Ishrugged. “That’s what Jesse would call it.”
    Cody sighed, though a few people round the table had smiles on their faces. “Even when he’s not here he’s causing mischief. Fine, Chickenator works. Now, is outrunning it the only thing we can do? Can’t we cut off its connection to the signal?”
    Hazel shook her head. “No, it’s got some sort of replicator deep inside its head, very well protected. Basically it mimics the signal so it can never be cut off. Pretty nifty really.”
    I didn’t like to hear the admiration in her voice, but Blake spoke before I could say anything. “So there’s no way for us to fight that thing?”
    “Hit it enough times and it might feel something. The wings are the most shielded but aim for the body and you could do some damage. And of course there’s no shielding inside, so hitting it while it’s chest is open should work. But I’d try running first. This thing is near impossible to beat.”
    Blake smiled slightly. “I don’t run.”
    Hazel rolled her eyes. “Well, good luck with that. The Brotherhood will try and make something to help, but it’ll take days. Let’s just hope that it’s done for now.”
    “This is a serious piece of hardware,” Cody said from the top of the table. “Why is it coming after us?”
    “You haven’t worked it out yet?” We all looked at Noah. He scowled back, confused. “But it’s obvious.”
    There was silence for a moment. “Apparently not,” Cody said. “What’s