by R. L. Stine
CLOMP. CLOMP.
Someone’s coming. You can hear his footsteps getting closer. Closer.
He is in the operating room now. You hear him bump into the metal table that the half-dog, half-boy is lying on.
CRASH! Metal instruments clatter and clang to the floor.
“Clumsy me,” Dr. Eeek says. “Excuse me, Joseph. I hope I didn’t hurt your hand … er … paw … just then.”
Your heart pounds even harder. What if Dr. Eeek comes into his office?
Turn to PAGE 57.
You and Sam sit in the black leather chairs. Dr. Eeek places the headsets on you and straps you both in. The visor-goggles on the headset cover your eyes. Everything is dark.
Then you hear Dr. Eeek’s footsteps. He’s walking over to a console. He punches keys on a keyboard. All at once, your headset pops to life.
“Amazing!” you cry, staring at the graphics in your visor.
In the headset, you see a virtual reality scene that is so lifelike — it’s even better than reality! Even though you are strapped in a chair, it feels as if you are really there.
Where?
Hawaii — or some kind of tropical South Seas island. You see yourself walking along a rocky cliff near a lagoon. Palm trees sway all around. Tropical birds are everywhere. The air is soft and warm. The water is turquoise blue. You wonder what it would be like to jump into that beautiful water — seventy feet below.
Uh-oh. Watch out — your thoughts are controlling this game! In the next instant, you start to fall … fall …
“Aaaaaahhhhhh!” you scream at the top of your lungs.
You are about to smack your head on the rocks below!
Go to PAGE 43.
“I haven’t done a thing to your mother,” Dr. Eeek says. “But you see, you’ve made a terrible mistake. Your mother doesn’t work here at Eeek Labs. She works at EIK Labs — elsewhere in this building. So if you ever want to see her again, you’ll have to get out of my laboratory.” He gives you a slow, wicked smile. “And I’m afraid that just isn’t likely to happen. Unless …”
Unless what? Find out on PAGE 76.
Help Dr. Eeek with the Raster experiment?
“No way, you creep!” you shout at Dr. Eeek. “You’re not going to experiment on us!”
Then you lunge at him with your gooey hands. You try to smear some of the goo on him.
It sticks to his hands — but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
“Ha-ha-ha!” Dr. Eeek shouts, tossing his head back and roaring with laughter.
What’s so funny, you wonder.
You’re not laughing. The green goo is creeping into your nose now. You glance over at Sam. He seems to be in a trance. The goo is covering his mouth.
Neither of you can breathe!
Find out what’s so funny on PAGE 44.
Right away, you know you’re in an operating room.
Tiled walls, metal cabinets, steel sink. Heart monitors. Cabinets full of rubber gloves. Surgical lights above a stainless steel operating table. Lumpy objects under a stained hospital sheet.
Wait a minute.
Lumpy objects under a stained hospital sheet?
Hurry to PAGE 47.
Stay cool, you try to tell yourself. But you can’t. Your blood is pumping through your veins at one hundred miles an hour.
All you can think is: The phone went dead! Dr. Eeek must have cut the lines! Now you’ll never get out of here — unless you come up with another plan. QUICK!
And then you remember Sam. Strapped in that black leather chair. Trapped in some horrible version of virtual reality. Clutching his throat.
And screaming for his life!
Suddenly, you glance up at the ceiling and notice the emergency sprinkler system. The ones that turn on by themselves during a fire. Hey — maybe there’s a way to trigger those sprinklers — and bring the fire department to the lab!
On the other hand, that could take a long time. And time is something you don’t have.
Maybe you should run back to the lab where Sam is trapped. And try to save him yourself. In the virtual reality game.
What do you think?
If you set off the sprinklers, turn to PAGE 114.
If you run back to the room with the black leather chairs, have a seat on PAGE 105.
Maybe you’d better lie down, you decide.
Your knees feel so weak, you can hardly stand. You glance around for someplace to sit. But there isn’t anything.
“Oh, well,” you say, as you stretch out right there on Dr. Eeek’s operating room floor!
Within seconds, you feel your eyes closing. Suddenly, you’re so tired. You’ve just got to get some sleep. And maybe then …
ZZZZZZZZZZZ. You’re out like a light.
Snoring away.
A few hours later, you open your eyes again.
“Mom!” you cry, sitting straight up in bed. In bed?
No. It can’t be true. But you gaze around — and it is true! You’re home in your own bed.
You blink once. Twice. How’d you get here?
“Wow, you must have been having a terrible dream,” your mom says. “You were talking and moaning all night in your sleep.”
You mean this was all just a dream? It never happened?
“Anyway, why don’t you visit my new lab today,” your mom goes on. “Come right after school. I’ll show you around. Then we’ll go to dinner and a movie. And bring Sam.”
Uh-oh. Here you go again!
THE END
Dr. Eeek leads you down a long white hallway. Doors line both walls. All the doors are closed, which gives you the creeps. What’s going on behind them?
Finally, Dr. Eeek opens a door on the right. G-LAB is printed on the door.
“Is this your mom’s lab?” Sam whispers.
“Who knows?” you whisper back.
“Right this way,” Dr. Eeek instructs. He stands aside so that you and Sam can enter first. Inside, the room is crowded with all the standard lab equipment. Tables, sinks, beakers, Bunsen burners. Jars of strange-looking things.
But your mom is nowhere in sight.
Then you notice a blob of thick, oozy green stuff sitting on one of the black lab counters. It looks like a cross between minty toothpaste gel and Silly Putty. It’s the size of a Jell-O softball.
And it’s glowing softly.
“What’s that?” Sam asks, pointing at the green goo.
“This?” Dr. Eeek says. He picks up the blob. “Here — catch!”
He tosses the blob of goo right at you!
Catch it on PAGE 96.
“We’d better not mess around,” you tell Sam as you back away from the chimp. “Let’s go back to the waiting room. I mean it — now!”
Reluctantly, Sam follows you. The two of you watch the chimp the whole time you back out of the room.
When you reach the door, the chimp tilts his head to one side and waves good-bye. He looks really sad to see you leave!
Then you hurry back down the hall to the waiting room. It’s still empty. But a moment later, the main door — the one that looks like a vault door — swings all the way open. And your mom sweeps in.
“There you are!” she exclaims. “I was afraid this would happen. You’re in the wrong waiting room! Come on.”
She nods her head toward the elevators in the hall.
“What movie are we going to see?” you ask.
“We’re too late for the movies now,” she says. “I think we’ll just go home and go to bed.”
BORING!
See what happens when you have no sense of adventure?
THE END
With all your might, you try to throw your body away from the rocks.
It works — but just barely. You almost graze the rocks as you drop directly into the lagoon. You sink for a minute. Then you give a kick and shoot back to the top.
Good thing you can swim!
You climb out of the water and sit on the rocks to dry off. The sun warms you.
Pretty soon your clothes are nearly dry.
This is freaky! you think to yourself. If it’s just a virtual reality game, why do you actually feel so damp?
Then you hear a rustling sound in the bushes. Before you can jump up, a ten-foot-long Komodo dragon darts out at you!
You scream. You’ve read enough about Komodo dragons to know how dangerous they are. They’re the world’s largest living lizards! And they’re fast, too. This guy could jump at you, chomp down on your stomach with his jagged teeth, and kill you in a flash.
You can’t decide whether to freeze or run.
But you’d better decide something — and fast!
Freeze on PAGE 75.
Or run like crazy to PAGE 86.
Slowly, Dr. Eeek takes his right hand and begins to pick at a spot on his left wrist — just above the gob of goo you smeared on him.
You gasp. He’s pulling off his skin!
No, you realize. He’s pulling off a thin, lifelike rubber flesh-colored glove — a glove that looks exactly like his real hand.
So that’s why the goo didn’t hurt him!
A moment later, he reaches up and pulls off a skintight, lifelike mask that’s covering his face.
“No!” you shout when you see his real face. It’s not the same face as the mask. Instead, he has the pasty, pudgy face of a man your mom once showed you in a picture. A man who was fired from her lab — for being totally crazy!
“You’re Herbert Wimplemeyer, the crazed scientist!” you try to shout.
But the green goo is creeping into your mouth. His name comes out sounding like “Werbert Dumplemurr.”
“I hate it when people can’t pronounce my name!” Dr. Eeek growls.
Turn to PAGE 119.
As you stare at the cages, you get a horrible sinking feeling. You see that several of the cages are occupied. But not by chimps.
By people! They’re all adults. Most of them are wearing lab coats. And all of them are asleep.
Sam jabs you in the ribs and points. That woman curled up in the cage in the corner — it’s the thin-lipped receptionist!
No wonder the halls of Eeek Laboratories were so empty!
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Sam shouts.
Oscar smiles at you. A chimp smile. Then he lets out a series of eeks.
You can’t understand chimpanzee. But if you could, you’d hear Oscar saying, “We’re studying human brains. Humans are very smart. And physically they’re a lot like chimpanzees. There is much we can learn from them.” Then he pats you on the head. “We’re especially delighted that we now have two human children to study,” he goes on. “It should be very interesting!”
You and Sam back away. You don’t understand what he just said. But as you stumble into the locked door, you’re pretty sure you understand one very important scientific fact. This is definitely …
THE END.
It works!
The German shepherds stop charging at you!
You’re doing it! You’re making them back down! One by one, the German shepherds turn around and run the other way.
“Let’s follow them. Maybe they know a way out!” you want to say to Sam. But you can’t talk. You’re still a human being inside. But you’ve got the body of a dog!
And then you think, Wait a minute. Why follow them? They’re just dogs.
You and Sam have got to find a way to turn yourselves back into kids again!
You watch the dogs for a minute. They really seem to know their way around this maze.
Well, which is it?
Do you want to follow the dogs?
Or wander the maze by yourselves?
If you follow the dogs, turn to PAGE 123.
If you wander the maze by yourselves, turn to PAGE 52.
You’re afraid to look under the sheet — and afraid not to. What is that lumpy object? Is that what was crying out for help?
You peer closer — and notice a kid’s sneaker poking out from under the sheet!
You feel so light-headed. You think you’d better lie down.
But where?
No way are you going to lie down in the operating room!
“Help,” a weak voice says. “Please — help me.”
You swallow hard. Your heart pounds. The room begins to spin.
Do you dare look under that sheet?
If you look under the sheet, turn to PAGE 22.
If you think you’d better lie down first, turn to PAGE 40.
You break out in hives.
Little bumps pop out all over your body. On your face. Your neck. Your arms. Your hands.
Even your tongue is covered with reddish, swelling bumpy things.
But the hives are nothing compared to the feeling of the green goo. It’s sliding into your nose, your mouth, even your eyes. It feels like a million snakes, slinking their way into your air passages. You’re going to suffocate any second.
All at once, Sam seems to snap out of a trance he’s been in. He springs into action — and runs right at Dr. Eeek.
“Have a taste of your own medicine, doctor,” Sam yells. Then he smears some of the green gobby goo on the doctor’s face.
“Argghhhhhh!” Dr. Eeek screams in terror.
He bolts out of the room. And from the look on his face, you figure he’s heading for the antidote!
Follow him to PAGE 80.
“Larry is holding a toothbrush,” you tell Dr. Eeek.
“Amazing!” he cries. “You are a true GOOSEBUMPS expert!”
You grin at Sam. “So how do we get out of the lab now?” you ask eagerly.
“The Canine Maze,” Dr. Eeek replies.
“Huh? The Canine Maze?” you repeat. You’re sure you must have heard him wrong. “But you said there was another way out if I answered your question right!”
“Too bad. I lied,” Dr. Eeek sneers. “It’s the Canine Maze for the both of you.” Dr. Eeek shivers with delight. He hurries to push a big red button on the wall. A hidden door on the operating room wall swings open.
You and Sam nervously peer inside. You can tell it’s a maze because this hallway is much narrower than the regular hall. Too narrow, you think. Plus you can’t see any doors in the maze. All you can see is that the maze twists and turns a lot.
If you go in, will you ever get out?
Dr. Eeek gestures for you and Sam to enter the maze. “Enjoy yourselves,” he says with an evil grin. “Oh, and by the way — beware of the dogs.”
Dogs? What dogs? Find out on PAGE 23.
Your throat tightens. Your stomach tightens. The only thing that doesn’t tighten is the grip on your wrist.
That’s because Dr. Eeek lets go of it. Then he laughs.
“Well, well, well,” he chortles. “How do you like it? I’ve transformed you into a perfect copy of the perfect person — me!”
You feel perfectly sick.
“No!” you shout. “You can’t do this!”
But Dr. Eeek isn’t listening. He’s opening up a closet. He’s taking out a raincoat with a big hood. He’s putting it on.
It covers his ugly head.
“So long,” he says to you. “Sorry to leave you like this, but I’ve got to go. You see, I’ve become rather unpopular with the government lately. Too many ‘unusual’ experiments, they say. So I need to get out of the country. Sorry to say, I’m leaving you here in my place.”
Then he runs out of the room. You never see him again.
Oh, well. Who cares? This is only virtual reality, right?
Suddenly, the images in your headset stop. You see nothing but black. And the straps loosen on your wrists! You’re free!
Or are you?
Find out on PAGE 93.
You stare at the blank screen in your headset. Then slowly, you raise your arms and take the headset off.
Hey — how did your arms get loose? A minute ago they were strapped down in that black chair. Weren’t they?
You blink and gaze around the room.
“Welcome
back,” a smiling face says when your eyes finally focus on the real world.
Mom! She’s standing right in front of you — with the police! And Dr. Eeek is still lying on the floor, out cold.
“Mom!” you cry. “How did you get here?”
“You came down to the eighteenth floor and found me,” she says. “Remember? And then I called the police and —”
But that was just in the virtual reality game. Wasn’t it?
You shake your head and don’t say anything. Why bother? You and Sam are safe now. And Dr. Eeek is going to jail. The police tell you they found all kinds of creepy stuff in his labs. Including a giant toad that can sing!
“A giant toad that can sing?” Sam asks. A smile creeps across his face. Then he bolts out of the room and dashes down the hall, searching for it.
Uh-oh. Here you go again! Maybe this really isn’t …
THE END.
You decide to wander the maze.
“Woof!” you bark at Sam.
You trot off to explore the maze. Sam follows slowly. Pretty soon you find your way back to the door to the Canine Maze. The one that Dr. Eeek locked, when he put you in the maze.
You lie down and wait. After all, Dr. Eeek has to open that door sometime, doesn’t he?
Yup.
It takes a few hours, but he finally opens it.
And you attack! You spring at him, snarling, snapping. You sink your sharp teeth into his ankle. Grrrr! You hate the taste of his pant leg. But you don’t care.
You chomp down as if your life depended on it.
Which it does.
“Yeooowwwwwch!” Dr. Eeek cries. He staggers backward, trying to shake you off.
But you won’t let go! You’re vicious! You’re an animal.