Escape from the Carnival of Horrors

by R. L. Stine

  You stare at him. You study him hard. Is he lying? Is he a robot like the other two? Or could he be a lot more dangerous?

  Your knees begin to tremble when you think about never going home — never seeing your family and friends ever again. Tears start to sting your eyes. Angry tears! No carnival — not even a Carnival of Horrors — is going to defeat you!

  You stare deeply into the evil eyes of the creature hovering before you.

  Robot? Real monster? You finally decide!

  If you think the creature is a robot, try to knock his head off on PAGE 81.

  If you think he’s a real monster or something worse, stay cool on PAGE 110.

  “The Final Challenge,” Big Al announces. And the crowd goes wild.

  Then he turns to you and says, “Remember — the fun games are over. Now you are playing for your life.”

  “You go first,” Big Al says to you. You see Brad and Patty taken off to the side by a huge man in a black hood.

  Two red-haired dwarfs in clown costumes scurry up the steps. To your surprise, they fit you with new high-top sneakers — sneakers with metal studs running up the backs. This is going to be some kind of race, you think. But then you change your mind — when they snap a heavy, metal helmet on your head.

  The crowd’s cheers grow louder. Big Al throws a switch. The curtain behind you parts and — Whammo! The wall behind the curtain turns into a super magnet. You go zinging to the wall like a dart to a bull’s-eye.

  Zing back to PAGE 25.

  “FI-NAL! FI-NAL! FI-NAL!” you hear the crowd yelling as you spin round and round.

  You’re getting dizzy. Really dizzy. So dizzy that you faint.

  Your eyes flutter open on PAGE 112.

  “This way!” You wave to Patty and Brad.

  The three of you turn to the left and keep running — straight into a pond!

  “Why didn’t you tell us to stop?” Patty whines.

  “Don’t complain to me!” you shout back. “We followed you through the fence!”

  You turn around and slog your way back to shore. Patty and Brad make it there first. You are a few feet away — when you see it.

  An alligator.

  With its mouth gaping open — revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  You freeze.

  Patty spots the alligator and yells, “Quick! There’s a log! Jump on it!”

  You scramble up on the log, but it’s no use. You’re still an easy target.

  The alligator opens its huge mouth even wider. He slithers right up to the log. And you can tell he’s ready. Ready to crunch down on you!

  Don’t scream yet. Turn to PAGE 43.

  “Yay! Our hero!” the freaks cheer as they bolt out of their cells.

  You follow the giant through a side exit. And in no time, you’re leading all your new friends to your house.

  You’re sure your parents won’t mind taking them in. After all, how much can a three-hundred-pound giant, a five-hundred-pound fat lady, and a three-headed man eat? Hmmmm. Better not answer that question.

  Just be happy that you’ve come to …

  THE END

  You’re not fast enough to get away from the ghost. You’re running now, but the ghost swoops down in front of you. You plow into him — and pass right through him!

  The carnival people are swarming after you. They don’t want you to leave the carnival.

  “Hurry!” you yell to your friends — only three minutes to midnight! You dash off in one direction, then another. The carnival people are approaching from every which way. They carry torches with flames that leap high in the air.

  You steal a glance at your watch — 11:58.

  “We can’t let them catch us!” you scream. “Let’s hide!”

  But where can you hide? Up ahead you see a gigantic cannon. All three of you could fit easily in there.

  You also spot a baby ride — the baby choo-choo train — maybe you could squeeze into that.

  Quick! Pick one — and hope for the best.

  Cannon? Go to PAGE 130.

  Choo-choo? Go to PAGE 128.

  You squeeze into the choo-choo and scrunch down. 11:59.

  Lights from the carnival people’s torches sweep over you. Their foul smell fills your lungs.

  The blood pounds in your temples.

  You’re sure they’re going to find you. But you’re trapped now.

  There’s no way out.

  You hear someone shout in the distance. “Closing time!” And then you hear a bell start to chime …

  … Midnight!

  “One, two, three,” Brad counts the chimes.

  You want to strangle him!

  “Four, five …”

  Suddenly, the kiddie train starts to move.

  “Six … seven … eight …”

  You sit up and what you see is the biggest shock of this whole horrible night….

  Turn to PAGE 70.

  The Monster Blood has grown so big — now you can’t see over it or around it.

  “Run for your lives!” Patty screams. But reaching the door is impossible.

  The mound of green slime is bearing down on you. Fast! You stand frozen to the spot. Terrified. And then — just in time — you, Patty, and Brad leap to the side. And the Monster Blood slams into the wall with a crushing force — and plows right through it.

  You stare at the giant gaping hole in the wall. Quickly, the three of you jump through the opening. You are standing outside the main gate — where you came in!

  There’s a wide path of destruction across the field and the forest beyond. From somewhere, a clock chimes twelve times, sending a chill down your spine. And when you peer back at the carnival, it has disappeared. All that’s left is a spooky silver mist.

  THE END

  You and your friends squeeze into the cannon.

  “Ouch! You’re sitting on my hand,” Brad whines.

  But you don’t have time to apologize.

  “Do you smell something … burning?” you ask.

  BOOM! There’s a tremendous explosion. You fly through space. You are headed for a fence that encloses the carnival, and the field beyond.

  Will you make it out of the park?

  Go to PAGE 101.

  SUCKER!

  You didn’t really think you could get out this easily, did you?

  Check out the title of this book: Escape from the Carnival of Horrors.

  Horrors! You need to face a lot more horrors — and then (maybe) you’ll escape.

  Quick! Turn to PAGE 116.

  The fortune-teller said this number might save your life. But how?

  Then you see it. In the corner. A tall silver locker with the number 132 painted in red.

  “In here,” you say, opening the door to the locker. You push Patty and Brad inside.

  As soon as you close the door, the locker begins to rattle and shake. You’re nearly blinded by a bright, white light. You hear a loud whooshing sound. And then all is silent. The door pops open — and you’re amazed at what you see.

  Turn to PAGE 21.

  Those eyes behind the alligator snout — those beady eyes. You should have recognized them before. It’s Big Al.

  “Hey! You did a great job here,” he says warmly. “You’ve really got the stuff for the Carnival of Horrors.”

  “Uh, thanks,” you mumble. “But I really have to go home now.”

  “What’s the rush?” he asks, patting you on the shoulder. “Aren’t you having fun?”

  Fun? you think. Crushed between solid walls. Then attacked by a bulging-eyed monster. Fun? No. This isn’t fun. This is weird.

  “Uh, yeah. It’s been really great. But, um, I really do have to get home,” you stammer. “So if you’ll just take me to wherever Patty and Brad are — and show us the way out — we’ll be going.”

  “I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” Big Al says. “Just open the door and you’ll understand.”

  You have no choice. You have to open the door and go
to PAGE 117.

  You’ve got to figure out what you weigh on Mars. Fast. But how?

  You’re about to give up when you notice a flashing sign. It reads: THE GRAVITY ON MARS IS ALMOST 40 PERCENT OF WHAT IT IS ON EARTH. Okay, now you can figure it out.

  Multiply your real Earth weight by four. Now drop off the last digit. For example, if you weigh 90 pounds, 90 × 4 = 360. Dropping off the last digit, you get 36 for your weight on Mars.

  If you don’t want to do the math, you can leave it to luck. Just guess.

  If you think your Mars weight is 37 to 39, go to PAGE 53.

  If you think your Mars weight is less than 37 or more than 39, go to PAGE 22.

  You open the door and climb a steep ramp that curves around and around. It’s cold and dark inside. Halfway up the ramp, you stop. There’s another sign: WARNING! — YOU MAY BE THE ONE TO SLIDE TO YOUR DOOM!

  You continue up the ramp. You finally make it to the top, and find yourself standing on a wide, dimly lit platform. A row of long, curving slides stretches out before you. The slides are numbered from one to ten.

  You think hard. The Doom Slide. You know you’ve heard about it before. But where? Where was it?

  And then you remember! It was in a GOOSEBUMPS book you read! One Day at HorrorLand.

  Now you know you’re in big trouble. Because you remember all about the Doom Slide from the book. You remember that if you pick the wrong slide, you’ll spend the rest of your life sliding and sliding — forever!

  Which number is the Doom Slide? Which one?

  If you remember which number slide is the Doom Slide (or if you have the book and can look it up), choose a slide that is not the Doom Slide. If you can’t remember, you’ll have to leave it to luck. Pick a number between 1–10.

  Pick slide 1, 4, or 5, and go to PAGE 121.

  Pick slide 2, 7, or 9, and go to PAGE 95.

  Pick slide 3, 6, 8, or 10, and go to PAGE 68.

  BEWARE!!

  DO NOT READ THIS BOOK FROM

  BEGINNING TO END!

  Prepare yourself to meet the Knight in Screaming Armor!

  Your cousins are coming to visit you from England. They’re bringing something with them. A little surprise …

  It’s an old suit of armor from your uncle’s collection. It has a really cool battle-ax and a shield. And it has something else too — orders to destroy you!

  You see, there’s an ancient curse that was placed upon your family and the knight is here to deliver it! And that’s not all — a ghastly-looking gardener with three heads, Mud Slinging monsters made of goo, and some very nasty sheep are all headed your way!

  This scary adventure is all about you. You decide what will happen. And you decide how terrifying the scares will be.

  Start on PAGE 1. Then follow the instructions at the bottom of each page. You make the choices.

  If you make the right choices, you will defeat the Knight in Screaming Armor and escape its horrible curse. If you make the wrong choice … BEWARE!

  SO TAKE A DEEP BREATH. CROSS YOUR FINGERS. AND TURN TO PAGE 1 NOW TO GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS!

  “Pip-pip! Ta-ta! Jolly good! Tallyho and all that rot!” your dad exclaims.

  “Da-a-a-d!” you plead. “Pleeeeeeease!”

  “So sorry,” he apologizes in his best British accent. “We just want your cousins to feel quite at home now, don’t we? It’s not every day we have visitors from England. It’s been over a year since we’ve seen them. Jolly good! Ta-ta! Pip-pip!” your dad says again.

  “Yes,” your mom adds. “Your Uncle Will is giving lectures at several important American museums. So Kip and Abbey will be staying with us for a whole week. Isn’t that terrific?”

  You only half agree. Kip Saxton is your age. Sometimes he complains too much. But mostly, he’s a pretty cool kid. His fifteen-year-old sister is another story. “Abbey acts like she’s queen of the world,” you say. “She can be a royal pain!”

  “Oh, you’ll have fun,” your dad assures you. “Uncle Will says Kip and Abbey are bringing a big surprise with them!”

  “A surprise?” you ask. “What surprise?”

  Go to PAGE 2.

  Before your dad can say another word about the surprise, the doorbell rings.

  “They’re here!” your mom calls from the front hall. She opens the door as the airport shuttle van pulls away. Your cousins are standing in the doorway. “You haven’t changed a bit!” your mom declares as she hugs Abbey and Kip.

  “I hope that’s not true,” you mutter. Your tall blond cousin is already staring past you and into the mirror behind you. “Hi,” you manage to say to her.

  Abbey primps her long golden curls before she answers. “Oh, hi,” she says as she pats her hair about a hundred times.

  “Still the same old Abbey,” you have to admit.

  “Forget her,” someone says, laughing. It’s Kip. “Can you give me a hand? We’ve got more stuff to bring in.” Your sandy-haired cousin moves back out onto the front step and points to two huge wooden crates. The crates are taller than your dad.

  “What the —?” you start to say.

  “Artifacts!” your dad chimes in. “Uncle Will is coming here next week to lecture at the Medieval Museum downtown. I told him we’d store some exhibits here until he arrives. But I never expected anything this big! These crates will have to go in the garage.”

  “What’s in the crates anyway?” you ask Kip.

  Go to PAGE 3.

  “Two suits of armor,” Kip says. “That’s what’s in the crates. They’re really old. From the fifteenth century. We call one of them the Evil Knight. It’s been with the Saxton family forever. The other suit was Sir Edmund Saxton’s. He’s our great-great-great-great … well, you get the picture.”

  The crates are on wheels. You, Kip, Abbey, and your dad pull them down the driveway to the garage behind your house. You notice a label on one of the crates.

  “Hey, look at this,” you cry. You read the label aloud:

  “Beware this Dark and Evil Knight

  Cursed still from long ago.

  Until a Good Knight fights for right

  This Knight brings misery and woe.

  That’s kind of spooky,” you add.

  “No! Don’t read that out loud,” Kip cautions too late. “It’s an evil curse on the whole Saxton family!”

  “A curse?” You laugh. “You don’t believe in curses, do you?”

  “Sure I do. And so should you if you know what’s good for you,” Kip whispers. “I guess you’ve never heard the tale.”

  Listen to the tale on PAGE 4.

  “The tale? What tale?” you ask.

  “The legend of the Curse of the Knight in Screaming Armor!” Kip answers. “Years ago an evil sorceress got angry at the King’s best knight, Sir Edmund Saxton. You know, our ancestor? He killed her favorite dragon, or something. Anyway, she put a curse on him — the Curse of the Knight in Screaming Armor!

  “She made a special suit of armor and sent it to him as a gift. The armor was haunted. It held the spirit of an evil knight. That night, horrible screams and cries were heard from Saxton castle. In the morning, Sir Edmund and all of his family had been killed!”

  Kip’s eyes grow wide as he goes on. “All of his family was dead except one son. He had been out hunting. Anyway, he kept the armor. He was too scared to throw it away!”

  The four of you arrive at the garage and your dad reaches down to open the door.

  “This is that armor. Family legend has it that one day it will wake up again. Thirsty for Saxton blood. Then it will destroy all that is good! Unless a brave and noble Saxton can defeat it. It has to be a member of the Saxton family.”

  “Ha!” you laugh. “I’m related to you, so I’m a Saxton. What’s an Evil Knight’s suit of armor going to do to me?”

  Get your answer on PAGE 96.

  R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popul
ar children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street and the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at www.RLStine.com.

  Goosebumps book series created by Parachute Press, Inc.

  Copyright © 1995 by Scholastic Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, GOOSEBUMPS, GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.