Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens Read Online Free Page B

but they would run out eventually and it was always good to know where else to go to look for them. The great thing about a chicken attack in the middle of the day was that most of the shops were still open, meaning that we didn’t have to break in to any. I got really excited when we passed a Morrisons. There weren’t all that many supermarkets near the centre of town and it could potentially keep us in food for the rest of the year.
    After about forty minutes, we came to a crossroads and the four streets stretched out in every direction, long and straight. The one building off to the right was barely one story high and when I glanced left I found myself looking at a wide expanse of green grass and bushes. It looked too open. Open was not good. Open got you caught.
    Rayna seemed to sense that I wasn’t happy. “What’s the matter?” she asked.
    “It just seems a bit… exposed,” I said weakly. “What’s a field doing in the middle of Aberdeen?”
    She looked at me strangely. “It’s not a field. It’sa metre wide space, then there’s a lorry park or something.”
    “It’s still pretty open.”
    She nodded. “I guess, but this is the fastest way there. Look, there’s a pretty solid building along here that I sometimes camp in. We can rest up there for a while and get something to eat. Are you hungry?”
    I was, but I hadn’t wanted to mention it. Breakfast had been a long time ago, before I’d set off to the library, and it was midway through the afternoon by now. I followed Rayna as we walked carefully across the intersection and towards the building she had been talking about. It was pretty impressive, long and brick, with a turret on the wall at either end. I wasn’t sure if you could get in them or not but a turret was a turret.
    She let us in the back door and up some stairs to the second floor. She wasn’t kidding about having camped there in the past. There was a sleeping bag, a table with a few chairs and a couple of boxes full of what looked like tins. Even more impressive was the gas-powered stove with the pots and pans. We had one back at base but we didn’t use it that often. Getting the fuel for it wasn’t easy. Mostly we just ate things cold. My stomach, which had been pretty quiet up until now, suddenly twisted in anticipation of a hot meal.
    Rayna saw the look on my face and grinned. She carefully lit the stove and gestured at one of the boxes. “You can pick anything you like from there.”
    I went to have a look and found it full of tins of soup. I looked through for maybe half a minute before returning, clutching two tins in my hands. She glanced at the label before raising an eyebrow. “Chicken soup?” she said, her voice sarcastic.
    I shrugged. “It seemed fitting.”
    She laughed a bit and emptied both tins into a pot, putting it onto the stove and pulling out a spoon to stir it with. “You’re odd.”
    “Everyone is,” I replied, echoing my brother. Then I swept my arms around in a circle. “The whole world is.”
    “True enough,” she said. The soup quickly came to the boil and she pulled the pot off the stove. Then she handed me another spoon.
    “No bowls, I’m afraid,” she said. “We’ll have to share the pot.”
    I wasn’t bothered and had already taken my first spoonful of chicken before she’d finished talking. It was still very hot and I almost burned my mouth as I swallowed, sending it rolling down my throat in a warm, delicious wave. It had been so long since I’d had anything hot, let alone anything that was well cooked, that I had to remember to let Rayna have some as well. She was a lot daintier than me and took a lot longer. I had to stop to let her catch up.
    “Hey, Rayna. Why did the chicken end up in the soup?”
    She looked annoyed, then sighed irritably. “I don’t know. Why did the chicken end up in the soup?”
    “Because it ran out of cluck!” I beamed at her.
    She stared at me a second then went back to eating. “Ha ha. Very good.