by R. L. Stine
Oh, rats!
THE END
You sit back on your heels and wonder what to do next.
What’s that? Your head whips around at a sound behind you.
Footsteps!
You scramble to your feet and rush down the hall. You come to a landing with several doors and a stairway. You dash down the steps two at a time.
They lead down to a storage basement. Piles of old rags, coiled ropes, and ragged nets clutter the floor. Good! Plenty of places to hide.
You hear footsteps on the floor above you. You burrow into a pile of rags. You lie very still.
Yuck! You can still feel worms wriggling around in your clothes! Eeew! They’re in your hair, too! You shake your head hard.
Then you freeze. From your hiding place you can hear the footsteps moving back and forth at the top of the stairs.
Will you be discovered?
Don’t move! Just turn to PAGE 50.
Too bad. Your coin went over the edge of the table.
“Oh, no!” you scream. “We’re going over the edge!”
The drop is sudden. You and Stinko fall faster than the speed of light.
“Whoa
aaa
aaa
aaa
aaa!” you both cry as you drop
down,
down,
down.
“Where are we going?” Stinko cries.
“Nowhere!” Dare’s voice booms all around you. “You’re going Nowhere — fast!”
THE END
Your mouth drops wide open. But no sound comes out.
You blink over and over. Your brain tries to make sense of what you are seeing. It is impossible — but very real.
A giant rat peers down at you.
Holding a clipboard.
And wearing a white lab coat.
“No!” you whisper. You stumble backward down the hallway.
The rat follows you along the top of the wall.
You come to another dead end. “No! No!” you scream. You pound your fists on the wall.
Then you glance up again.
The rat is taking notes!
You race through the twisting corridors. First this way, then that. No escape! Just hallways leading to more hallways.
With growing horror you realize: You’re in a giant maze.
This time, you’re the experiment!
You sink to the ground. Will you ever find the way out of this crazy maze?
Sorry. Not in this lifetime. Everywhere you turn only brings you to a
DEAD END.
“Now’s our chance, Stinko!” You grab Stinko and dash through the door in the castle wall. You glance back to see if Dare is following you.
WHAM! You smash right into a marble column. Your head spins from the impact.
A door in the long, narrow column opens up. You and Stinko tumble into a Plexiglas tube.
The tube snaps shut. The column door slides closed. You and Stinko are sealed in the tube!
“It’s like the money tube at the drive-in bank!” Stinko exclaims.
Exactly.
WHOOSH!
The tube — with you and Stinko in it — is swiftly sucked up by a strong force. A whirring sound surrounds you. You’re speeding through a dark tunnel.
All this has happened so fast, you haven’t had time to think about what’s waiting at the end of this tube trip.
If there is an end …
Go to PAGE 70.
“Stinko!” you call after the kid heading for the cave. But he disappears through the opening. You dart after him.
“Hey, you brat!” an angry voice behind you shouts. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Oops. Maybe you were supposed to pay an admission fee. Unfortunately, you don’t have any money. “I need a bigger allowance,” you mutter. You speed up.
You reach the cave. A sign over the entrance reads: TO WEIRD WOODS. You dash in and then out the other side.
“Whoa, cool!” you exclaim. You gaze around.
The huge area looks exactly like a jungle. It is so realistic, you wonder if you’re still indoors! Jungle sounds and smells surround you. Thick orange mist rises from a deep canyon. You spot a narrow rope bridge disappearing into the mist.
You don’t see Stinko, though.
But, wait — is that a red baseball cap bobbing across the rope bridge?
You dash onto the bridge. A little too quickly. The wobbly rope bridge sways and swings. Faster. And faster.
You struggle desperately to keep your balance.
No use! You’re going to fall!
Go to PAGE 18.
You decide to trust the rats. They’re not hurting you. In fact, they’re very friendly. Maybe they’re going to show you the way out.
Squeaking softly, the rats head into the dark hole. You follow them down a chilly, spooky tunnel. A strong, bad odor fills your nostrils. The smell of something rotting hangs thick in the air.
As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you get a better look at your surroundings. You realize this isn’t just an empty tunnel. Narrow shafts of light shine in through cracks in the walls. But the walls aren’t ordinary walls.
They’re walls of mummified rats!
A dim light shines on an engraved plaque. You kneel down beside it. Your heart pounds as you read the words out loud.
“ ‘TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN RATS — Here lie the innocent Rats of Lab. Their deaths shall be remembered …’ ”
The next words catch in your throat. “ ‘And revenged!’ ” you gasp.
Get a grip on yourself and turn to PAGE 30.
You gasp! You can’t believe Dare’s palm just disappeared like that!
You lean forward to get a closer look at his invisible palm. Dare doesn’t try to hide it from you. In fact, he holds it out for you to see.
“Here,” he says. “Have a good look. It won’t bite you.” He shoves his hand inches from your face.
Yikes! A vampire bat pokes its head through the hole left by the disappearing rat.
Before you can pull back, the bat’s fangs dig into your neck. A warm, woozy feeling rushes through you.
Uh-oh. You’ve been bitten by a vampire.
You know what that means.
You’re a vampire, too!
Go to PAGE 82.
Zoe peeks around the cheese boxes. Her eyes narrow when she sees you.
“You little brat!” she growls. She reaches for you.
You shove the stack of wormy cheese boxes onto her. Cheese flies everywhere. She’s covered with cheese crumbs and zillions of worms.
You don’t waste a minute. You race toward an EXIT sign in the distance.
“Get that kid!” Zoe screams through her mask of worms. The other hippie girl trips over the cheese boxes. You’ve got a good head start, you tell yourself.
But when you reach the EXIT sign, you discover it’s not really an exit. It actually says: NO EXIT, EMPLOYEES ONLY.
Next to the door is one of the dark cave entrances. Over it a sign announces: THIS WAY TO WEIRD WOODS.
You glance behind you. Zoe is catching up. And she’s not alone! Choose!
If you go through the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, turn to PAGE 16.
If you dash into the cave toward Weird Woods, turn to PAGE 80.
“Ready or not,” you shout, “here I come!”
You jump into the pit. Immediately you start sinking. Hard plastic balls bounce off your face, neck, and arms. The air between the balls is full of static electricity. It smells like old Barbie dolls.
“Help!” you scream. Layers and layers of colored balls close in around your face. You can’t breathe. You’re drowning in a sea of colored balls. You don’t know how to swim in plastic!
But maybe you can float in it!
You tuck your chin to your chest. You bring in your arms and legs and scrunch up into a ball.
It’s working! You’re not sinking anymore!
You start to rise to the surface. You peek out from your
ball shape and spot Stinko a few feet ahead of you.
But as soon as you uncurl, you immediately begin to sink again.
Now what should you do? Stinko’s getting away from you!
If you stay rolled up in a ball, roll to PAGE 10.
If you uncurl and go after your brother, swim to PAGE 113.
“Down!” you cry.
The LOBBY button lights up. The elevator motor whirs.
You hear rats scratching at the elevator door. Relief floods over you as the elevator starts moving down.
You watch the numbers above the door: 16. 15. 14.
“Whew! I didn’t think we’d make it,” you admit. “That was really close!”
“How close was it?”
Uh-oh. That wasn’t Stinko’s voice.
You feel hot breath on the back of your neck. The voice speaks again. “Was it this close?”
You whirl around and come face-to-face with Dare.
What’s left of Dare, that is.
Go to PAGE 52.
PUHHHH!
You and Stinko pop out of the Plexiglas drainpipe and land with a thud. A few more kids drop out of the pipe after you.
You glance around. You’re in a big, windowless white room. Loud rock music blasts from speakers sitting on a stainless steel counter.
But over the music you hear cries and moans. Where are those terrible wails coming from? you wonder.
Your eyes land on rows of cages lining one wall.
A scream stops in your throat.
The cages are full of kids!
Then a figure steps out from behind a white screen. A sight more terrifying than the caged humans.
A giant rat!
Go to PAGE 131.
Congratulations! You and Stinko easily dash under and out of the giant parachute before it lands on you.
“Excellent.” Dare nods his tattooed head. “I’m looking forward to beating you at my games.”
You glance around. Nothing looks familiar. In fact, everything looks very, very strange! The trees are orange! The grass is purple!
You’re not in your house anymore, that’s for sure!
“Wh-wh-where are we?” you stammer.
“Right where I want you to be.” Dare hurls his tattooed cape at you. It drops onto you and Stinko.
You and Stinko back up quickly. But the cape is quicker. It closes down around you. You try to lift one edge.
It won’t budge.
When you look around for Dare, you don’t spot him anywhere. All you see are tattoos of snakes, spiders, dragons, and rats — wriggling and writhing on the walls around you.
“Look out!” Stinko cries. “The tattoos are alive!”
Stinko is right. This is a tattooed tent of terror.
And you and Stinko are trapped inside!
Go to PAGE 9.
Two giant rats stand in the center of the Tomb. Rats the size of humans!
They’re wearing lab coats.
And standing on their hind legs.
You burrow deeper into the rat wall. These rats may be dead and disgusting, but at least they’re not enormous mutants!
The two hideous rats sniff around the Tomb. They gaze at each other and shrug.
Then they turn and leave the Tomb.
You slide out of the wall of dead rats. “How can it be?” you moan. “What kind of crazy place is this?”
You have to escape. You and Stinko are in terrible danger. Rats that trick you, walls of dead rats, and now giant rats!
And it all began with Zoe. The baby-sitter with the rat tattoo on her ear.
Figure it out later! you scold yourself. Move it — now!
You peer down the Tomb’s long corridor. A steel gate is sliding down at the opening at the end of the hall! Oh, no!
The rats are sealing the Tomb!
Turn to PAGE 5.
As soon as you fall asleep, you dream.
In your dream, you and Stinko are neck deep in swirling water. On one side of the water, the dragon tattoo from Dare’s cape stands ready to blast you with its flaming breath.
On the other side of the water, a stone castle casts a shadow over you.
You’re in a moat encircling the castle. You look up and see Dare gazing down from a turret. The dragon’s breath sends you and Stinko swimming as fast and hard as you can.
Dare laughs.
Guess what?
This isn’t a dream.
This is the nightmare Dare said he would see you in!
Go to PAGE 51.
You stare, horrified, at the claw in the ceiling. It scrapes at the hole. The claw is almost all the way through.
“Is this an emergency?” Stinko cries.
“Of course it is, dumbo!” you snap. Your mind races, trying to think of a way out of this mess.
Stinko jumps up and slaps his hand against the elevator’s control panel. The elevator comes to a screeching halt.
“Aaaaaaiiiieeee!” A bloodcurdling squeal rises and then falls away. Whatever was breaking through the ceiling is gone now. The sudden stop must have thrown it off the top of the elevator!
“What did you do?” you shout at Stinko.
“You said it was an emergency,” he replies, looking offended. “So I pushed the emergency button.”
Laughing, you give Stinko a grateful hug.
Whoa. Get a grip!
You let go immediately.
“Come on, Stinko,” you say, pushing another button. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
If you pushed the FUN AND GAMES KIDSCARE OFFICES button, go to PAGE 73.
If you pushed the LOBBY button, go to PAGE 43.
“That’s not fair!” you yell. “You never told us that!”
“You never asked.” Dare shrugs. Which makes the pictures swirling around on his body look even weirder.
Stinko stomps his foot. “Take me home right now!” he demands.
“The only way home is through the games,” Dare says.
He steps back — and disappears into the tattooed walls.
A large flat box appears in the spot where he was standing. On the box top are the words THE GAME BOX.
As you gaze at it, you shiver. A cold wind blows through the tent. It lifts one tattooed edge slightly.
If you grab Stinko and run to the open edge of the tent, turn to PAGE 96.
If you open the box, go to PAGE 22.
You force yourself to stay still. You wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Soon, your eyes close.
“Ouch!” Your own cry wakes you from a deep sleep. Something is pinching you all over. No. Something is biting you!
The dim light reveals a horrifying sight. You’re covered in a living blanket of …
Rats!
Hundreds of huge, scaly-tailed, sharp-toothed, pointy-nosed rats!
Uh-oh. Better turn to PAGE 132. Fast!
“Swim, Stinko!” you yell.
But Stinko’s too scared to move. He holds on to your leg. He’s dragging you down into the freezing water. If you don’t start swimming, you’ll go under!
You stretch both arms forward in your best butterfly stroke to escape the fiery breath of the dragon. You’re in luck! A low drawbridge spans the moat in front of you.
You reach for the side of it. The bridge rises slowly, carrying you and Stinko with it.
Then the drawbridge stops midway. The dragon shoots fire, just missing Stinko’s feet.
“Aahhhhh!” Stinko screams as he dangles from your ankles.
Your arm muscles are stretched to the limit. You don’t think you can hold on much longer.
“I’m waiting for you!” Dare calls down.
The dragon breathes fire again. The flames lick at your legs. Yeoww! That’s hot!
You could try to pull yourself up and out of its way. Or you could drop to cool the fire in the moat below.
If you try to pull yourself and Stinko onto the bridge, go to PAGE 126.
If you drop back into the
moat, go to PAGE 89.
You gasp in horror. Stinko cowers in the corner.
A grotesque figure stands inches from you in the elevator. It’s Dare.
But a very different Dare!
Whole pieces of his body are missing. A knee. An arm. One ear. Half his face. Part of a shoulder.
Where tattoos once were, there is nothing now.
Just air.
The tattoos hid the fact that Dare is nothing without them. Every time you won a game, Dare lost a tattoo. And he also used some up trying to defeat you.
The tattoos that are left are in trouble, too. Tattered creatures gasp for breath. They struggle to hang on to each other. To keep a shape, a form. To stick together. To keep Dare alive.
“The game is almost over,” Dare growls. “I’m losing the games. I’m losing everything. I’m supposed to be the winner. These are my games. And I want to win my games!”
Go to PAGE 95.
You leap back from the bars.
“Grated kid?” you gasp. “What’s that?”
“Exactly what it sounds like, genius,” Zoe answers.
Stunned, you sink to your knees. Stinko covers his head with his arms and whimpers. The kids in the other cages moan.
“We’ll make the necessary preparations.” Zoe sets a ring of keys down on the counter and leads the way out the door. The other mutants follow her. You stare after them.
That’s when you notice one of the bars in the cage is bent.
Could you — or Stinko — possibly slip through?
If you could get those keys, you could open all the cages. It’s probably your only chance to save your life.
But you don’t have much time.
You study the bars.
Don’t think about it too long! Get moving! They’ll be back any minute!