Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 'BRIAN? ESCAPED? BRIAN? HOW CAN THIS BE? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!' ranted Catface, his face sheet-white. Toto and Silver looked at each other blankly. Brian? 'This is a disaster! We'll have to evacuate the whole of Camden now!' Catface continued. 'Thank you, Robert. Best of luck, eh. Are you heading out of town?'

'Don't worry about me,' chirped Robert. 'I've got these bad boys,' he said, flapping his wings. 'I can fly- Brian can't. It's you guys who need to worry- he'll be coming this way for sure. I'm off to squawk at more animals!' 'This is bad, kids, as bad as it gets,' said Catface. 'We are in deep doo-doo.' Silver fell about laughing. 'Deep doo-doo! Brilliant. Toto, he said DOO-DOO!' 'My friends, you don't understand,' said Catface. 'We have to get you two safely home. Then I must be on my way, back to

my family to warn them, and then I think I might make for the country... high ground -Scotland, perhaps. I've got more family there. I can get the morning train and be there by lunchtime...' 'I'm sorry,' said Toto, 'but WHO IS BRIAN? And why is everyone so scared of someone called... Brian?' 'Listen very carefully,' said Catface. 'You have no idea what Brian is capable of. He's clever, he's silent, and he is almost impossible for humans to catch. Brian is the stuff of legend, a ghost story that mummy animals tell their kids to make them behave. "'If you don't eat all your dinner, Brian will come and gobble you up." Only it's not a made-up story, it's true! If he

comes this way, which he will, as there are so many of us to... gobble... we're all doomed. We have to get you inside.' 'But what is Brian?' asked Toto. 'Brian,' sighed Catface, 'is a snake. And no ordinary snake... He is the famous King Cobra of London Zoo, one of the deadliest snakes in the world. Everyone has feared this day from the moment he was given a home there. Now that he has escaped, he will eat whatever he finds: birds, snakes, you, me. He will then try to mate and have babies—' 'UGH, GROSS!' exclaimed Silver. 'Thanks for that,' continued Catface. 'If he finds a lady cobra, and there are

many in captivity around London, they will have forty or fifty babies, and do you know who they will eat? ALL OF US.' 'But... he's called Brian. He doesn't sound that scary,' said Silver. 'I know, replied Catface. 'It's a ridiculous name. I'm sure it was given to him to make him sound a bit cuddly and friendly, two things he absolutely isn't. Now, back to your house, you two, and don't come out again until he is caught. 'You said he's impossible for humans to catch. Why don't we have a go?' asked Toto. 'Have you taken leave of your senses?' asked Catface. 'He's one of the most dangerous animals on the planet, and you want to go off on some adventure to find

him? And just suppose we do track him down, what then? I can't fight him- no one can. We have to get to safety now! They trudged back to the house where they had started their night-time adventure only a few hours before. Catface was about to help them over the gate, when Toto turned around, a steely look in her eye. 'Listen,' said Toto. 'This is your home, right? If you run now, you'll never come back. We've just got here, and we love it already. Yes, it's a bit cold, and your pasta is nowhere near as good as ours, but look at this street. All the animals live happily alongside each other. This is our home and I for one want to fight for it. So I'm not running away—'