71 The Resistance

71 The Resistance As they flew down into the valley on their jet- propelled scooters, they had a fantastic view of the entire scene. Forming a massive circle that stretched across the entire width of the North Draw were hundreds of large, spiky interlocked crosses embedded in the snow. They looked just like the Second World War anti-tank obstacles that Peanut had seen on a Melody High school trip to the beaches of Normandy, except that these were all either bright pink or bright blue. 'Czech hedgehogs', they were called. Peanut remembered the name because you would expect such a creature to be cute and friendly. These things, however, did not look cute and they certainly didn't look friendly. They

could stop even the biggest tank, even one as huge as the Big X. The Resistance meant business! But that wasn't all. Within the enormous circle of pink and blue Czech hedgehogs was a huge, dome-like structure. They didn't notice it at first, but as they got closer, Peanut could see that it was made entirely of a very close netting, drawn in blue coloured pencil. Standing just inside the netting were lots of people. And one huge alligator. ' JONATHAN HIGGINBOTTOM!' shouted Little-mt.

Three more flying fish swooped at Peanut. As she jerked out of the way, the scooter veered off sharply to the left and almost flipped over. 'THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE!' she yelled. 'LOOK! TO THE RIGHT!' shouted Mr M. 'IT'S MILLICENT!' Sure enough, Peanut could see Mrs M beckoning them towards a small opening in the netting. Mr M. Little-Bit and

Doodle immediately headed towards it. Peanut followed, fifty metres behind, with about a hundred Exocetia on her tail. She watched the other scooter fly through the entrance. 'ROCKWELL!' she shouted. 'I THINK WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!'