-8-
"Okay, let me see if I've got this straight, you can't fly at all, but you escaped because you had set up a cannon?" Ginger said, her tone far from happy, but at the same time, she was glad her questions were being answered.
As soon as the circus man had left, disappointed and empty-handed, Ginger had begun to ask the rooster questions with everyone else there. She had shown them the circus poster before Mac pressed the rooster on how he'd flown out in the first place. Rocky had been evasive before he'd finally answered. While she was disappointed herself, Mac had commented that a cannon would solve many problems, like how come Rocky had travelled here so quickly, and what kind of thrust his method used.
"Yeah," Rocky said, he was sitting down on one of the bunks; he was unable to look at the other hens, he could see they were just as disappointed, and while he hadn't cared before he was stuck here and if they couldn't get out, neither could he.
Ginger turned to Mac. "Mac, is there any way we could build a canon to escape?"
The intellectual hen and her right-hand hen nodded thoughtfully. "Aye, I guess we can build one, but the biggest snags are what we're gonna use to launch us into the air in the first place. It would have to be large enough to get us beyond the walls of the farmhouse."
"And a long way from the Tweedy's reach," Ginger added, knowing Mrs Tweedy would not rest until they were caught.
"Aye, and then there's the problem of the size of the cannon. We canna do it, Ginger. We can't just build a massive cannon and expect them not to find it," Mac added.
"She's right," Bunty nodded. "How would we hide a cannon?"
Agnes thought of something. "We can't build a big cannon, face it, Ginger."
"What if we build smaller cannons? We can hide them easier," a hen suggested.
Mac thought about it, and in her head, she pictured the scenario. She dismissed the idea of just placing the cannons at the wall closest to the farmhouse and instead looked at the back. But the biggest problem was making sure they would all go off at the same time. "I think I've got an idea, Ginger," Mac said at last to her friend, going over it in her head, "just gimme time to work on it."
"Okay," Ginger knew better than to push her friend, "do your best."
Ginger turned around, catching Rocky's eyes; she was disappointed he couldn't fly naturally, but this might be better for them.
-8-
2 weeks later…
-8-
Ginger took a deep breath as she stepped into the moonlight, her heart thudding hard in her chest as she scouted around the farm. When she was sure it was all clear, she signalled to the others. As quietly as they could, the other hens set up the cannons. Each hen had their own cannon, lovingly and carefully designed by Ginger and Mac, and helped by Rocky's advice, with the bits provided by the rats, and so did the only two resident roosters. Rocky had been forced to show them the tricks of the trade, telling every chicken in the farm what they had to do while in flight, and they'd become closer, he and Ginger.
Mac had worked long and hard, designing and helping them build not only the cannons, but also working out where to put them so they wouldn't be caught by the TV aerial, the telephone wires, and who knew what else.
"Okay, Mac," Ginger swallowed to contain her nerves; after the close call with the pie machine, she was determined tonight would be a success. "Let's go."
The chickens and roosters got into the cannons, but before they did, Ginger nodded to two chickens. Instantly they fired a cannon directly at the windows of the Tweedy's farmhouse. Mac had carefully calculated the angle and the force of the blast. Ginger flinched at the explosion, even as the incendiary bomb set the inside of the house alight. They had to distract the Tweedy's somehow.
"Right, everyone get into their cannons," Ginger yelled even as they heard the shouts from the house. Her cannon was very roomy, and she prepared herself for the blast, she readied the parachute she had strapped to her back like everyone else had. After seeing the way Rocky came in, Ginger refused to take the chance of injury.
Ginger looked up and down the line, nodding at Bunty, Rocky, Agnes and Fowler who were tasked with making sure the chickens near them were safe inside the cannons.
"NOW!" She yelled, and she used her match to light the fuse. Desperately she looked up and down the lines, hoping none of her friends had decided to make the stupid decision to hop out - she wouldn't put it past some of them - but no, all of them were in their cannons.
When the explosions took place, Ginger felt as if she were being thrown clear overhead of the farm; Mac had spent days making sure each of the cannons was grooved so then they'd spin faster, and be propelled further. As she cheered when she heard the sounds of the Tweedy's shouts as they desperately tried to fight the fire, noticing too late their chickens were escaping.
-8-
"Is this what you had in mind?" Ginger smiled when she heard Rocky's voice, and she looked around their new home. They had used quite a lot of explosives to get out of the farm, and they had travelled miles, too far for the Tweedy's to find them, and they'd arrived near a bird's sanctuary. After reaching the island, they began building their new home.
Several of the hens had already had chicks; every single one of them had been so traumatised by the treatment they'd suffered at the farm they had hoped never to have chicks of their own, but now they were free.
Ginger idly wondered if they should send a few chickens out there, to spread the word and instructions on how to escape their own farms, but she would think about that later, even if she wanted her people freed from humans forever.
"No, it's better," Ginger smiled at him.