by RL Stine
“You see the problem?” she cries. “We can’t stop switching. We need help. We developed Switch Cheese as a cure. But it doesn’t work right.”
“I don’t know anything about making cheese,” you protest. “And Stinko doesn’t know anything about anything!”
“I heard that!” Stinko complains from the table.
“It’s your makeup,” Zoe explains.
“Makeup! I don’t wear makeup!” you scoff. “And if Stinko wears makeup, it’s news to me!”
“Your genetic makeup,” Zoe corrects you. “You two have the right genes to become rats. With a little scrambling.”
You shake your head. “I’d believe that about Stinko, but in my case you’ve got the wrong kid.”
“I heard that, too!” Stinko whines.
“You’re the right kids. We’re sure.” Zoe approaches you. “All you and Stinko have to do is eat a little Switch Cheese. A few nibbles — and we’ll have the results we need.”
You’re almost afraid to ask. But you have to. “And what might those results be?”
Zoe smiles. “You and Stinko will become rats.”
Go to PAGE 88.
Dare stands in front of you. The spotlights shine right through his invisible spots. The hot lights make the remaining tattoo creatures squirm. The only sounds are the sounds of the creatures hissing, gasping, dying slowly.
Dare takes off his T-shirt. A hulking, horned beast tattoo rears its head on his chest.
The beast roars, baring a mouthful of flesh-ripping teeth!
Stinko screams in terror. You throw your arms up to protect your face.
When Dare laughs, you can see right through the back of his head!
“The last game is deadly simple,” he explains. “Only one of us can win. Only one of us can survive. It is the most dangerous game of all.”
Your throat is so dry with fear, you can’t speak. “But what do I do?” you whisper.
“You simply make a choice,” Dare tells you. “You look at me and make a choice. All or Nothing. It’s that simple.”
Go to PAGE 105.
You’ll take the path. Forget the cave. Who knows what trouble you might find in there? It’s better to just keep going. That Bottomless Ball Pit must be right up ahead somewhere.
As you round a big rock, you hear the screams and squeals of kids. You run toward the sounds.
There it is! The Bottomless Ball Pit!
Then you spot a kid in a red baseball cap standing on the edge of the pit. About to jump in.
It’s Stinko!
“Stinko!” you scream to him.
He turns, looks at you, and waves. Then he jumps into the pit.
And sinks like a stone!
Go to PAGE 128.
Hide! You may be brave, but you’re not stupid!
You glance around the rat-lined Tomb. Yikes! There’s only one place to hide.
In the wall.
The wall of rats.
You touch the lifeless, furry rat bodies. “Ugh!” you moan in disgust. You try not to breathe the dead-rat air as you push open a space between the piled-up bodies.
You slide into the space. The little bodies fold back over you. You are completely hidden except for your eyes and nose.
Two figures wearing white coats enter the Tomb. You can’t quite see them from your hiding place. Their backs are to you.
One turns off the flashing lights.
The other shuts down the siren.
Then they turn around.
You have to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from screaming.
Ouch! Head to PAGE 46.
Whew! You win. Your coin stopped just short of the edge.
You breathe a sigh of relief. You yank Stinko away from the edge. The tent reappears.
Huh? How?
You don’t care how it happened. You crawl inside, dragging Stinko in with you. Anywhere is better than Nowhere!
You stand up. The tent’s walls and ceiling vanish!
“Where are we now?” Stinko asks.
“I don’t know,” you murmur, gazing around.
You’re standing on a slab of slate. It’s one of many slabs forming a path through endless white sand. The pure white sand blankets the ground as far as your eye can see.
A burning ball of fire shines brightly overhead. Stinko wipes sweat from his forehead. “Are we at the beach?” he asks.
It’s more like a desert! A broiling wave of heat hits your face. You gaze out toward distant dunes and squint your eyes.
You struggle to focus on something too strange to be real.
In the middle of the heat, you feel a chill.
Am I really seeing that? you wonder.
Or are my eyes playing tricks on me?
Go to PAGE 62.
You decide to go after Stinko yourself. Zoe gives you the creeps. You just want to get out of here. But before you can get out, you’ve got to get in and fetch your little brother!
While Zoe’s back is turned, you crawl under the turnstile. Standing up, you glance around. You don’t see Stinko anywhere. Where did that little brat go? you wonder.
“Stinko!” you yell. But there’s no way he can hear you over the music and screaming kids.
Then you spot a familiar red baseball cap in the distance. Stinko! All you can see is the hat — in a crowd of kids standing at the edge of a swimming pool. A swimming pool filled with colored plastic balls. A big sign overhead reads: BOTTOMLESS BALL PIT.
You would recognize that hat anywhere.
Or would you?
You glimpse another red baseball cap. On the head of another kid.
And this kid is heading toward one of the caves!
Which kid is Stinko?
If you follow the kid heading for the cave, go to PAGE 38.
If you think the kid at the ball pit is Stinko, turn to PAGE 57.
You dash through the cave and step out into an enormous jungle setting. Plastic rocks jut out like cliffs. Fake plants tower overhead. Exotic smells and sounds fill the air.
Awesome! you think. This Fun Zone building must be huge!
Right in front of you, a bridge stretches across a deep, dark canyon. A thick mist makes it impossible for you to see where the bridge leads. Or what might be on the other side.
But Zoe is definitely on this side. Glancing back, you see her racing toward you. “Not that way!” she cries.
So she doesn’t want you going over the bridge. Then that’s just what you’ll do! You step onto the wobbly rope floor. It shakes so badly, you almost fall over the side!
Hmmmm. Maybe this was a bad idea.
“Get back here, you brat!” Zoe yells at you.
No way, you think. She is one rotten baby-sitter!
You dart along the shaky rope bridge. After you’ve gone about halfway, it begins to sway back and forth.
You clutch the rope railings. You feel as if you’re riding a wild ride at an amusement park.
Only, you’re not amused!
You’re losing your footing. You’re losing your grip!
Oh, no! You’re going to fall!
Turn to PAGE 18.
All that is left of Dare is air. The tattoos are all gone. The beastly baby-sitter is a horrible thing of the past.
And Stinko is the only tattoo that survived.
It’s all over.
Finally!
“Ready to go home now, Stinko?” you ask, ruffling your brother’s hair.
“I’m not a Stinko!” your brother argues.
“Are, too.”
“Am not!”
“Are, too.”
“Am not!”
“Are, too!”
Oh, well.
Some things never
END.
“Are you okay?” Stinko asks.
“I-I think so …” you reply. So far, you don’t feel any different.
“I lied. It did bite after all.” Dare laughs. “But you don’t have to turn into a vampire if you play the game right.�
�
“This is no time for games!” you cry.
“It’s always time for games,” Dare scolds.
He tosses three balls into the air and starts juggling. “Inside one of these balls you’ll find a cure,” he explains. “All you have to do is guess which ball. Is it the red ball? Is it the yellow ball? Or is it the green ball?”
Dare keeps juggling while you try to decide which ball will save you.
Turn to the Spinner on PAGE 136. Follow the directions at the top of the page.
If your finger lands on green, turn to PAGE 121.
If your finger lands on red, turn to PAGE 58.
If your finger lands on yellow, turn to PAGE 72.
“You deserve a reward,” Zoe the rat continues. “Come forward for your Switch Cheese.”
David steps forward and takes the cheese from Zoe’s outstretched claw. He pops it into his mouth. Your eyes widen as you watch the incredible changes taking place.
More fur grows on David’s clawed hand. His face narrows and becomes pointy. Whiskers sprout under his new nose. His eyes turn beady and black.
Now David is more rat than kid!
“Your turn.” Zoe holds a piece of Switch Cheese toward you. “This cheese will turn you into one of us. Then you can join our army.”
You stare at her.
“It will be easier on you if you do as I say,” Zoe warns. “We’re taking over.”
If you decide to join the rat-people’s army, turn to PAGE 104.
If you refuse to eat the cheese, turn to PAGE 115.
Pick a string, any string. Follow it to an end. What you do next will depend on what you do now.
Turn to PAGE 45.
Turn to PAGE 117.
“Why don’t we go back the same way we got here?” Stinko suggests. He reaches under a lab table, then holds up Zoe’s large shoulder bag.
“Hey, Stinko,” you say. “You’re not as dumb as you look.” You grab the bag and open it.
There it is. The DiskGo-Tech.
You yank up the loop in the center of the disk. It pops up to a dome. You press on all the edges. A door slides open.
“Wow!” Stinko shouts. “You did it!”
“Don’t I keep telling you I’m a genius?” you joke. “Now hurry. Get inside.” You have a creepy feeling that if you don’t leave right away, some other mutants may show up and try to use you for some other weird experiments.
You crawl after Stinko into the DiskGo-Tech dome.
“Make it go!” Stinko urges.
“I will, I will!”
But how?
Can you make it work? Turn to PAGE 29 to see.
You roll an even number on the dice.
Before you can even ask what comes next, a deafening roar fills your ears. Hot wind whips around you. A cyclone funnel like the tattoo on Dare’s shoulder sucks you forward. You and Stinko bounce onto the next slab, and the next, and the next.
“Help!” Stinko cries over the roaring wind. “It’s got me!”
You watch helplessly as your little brother is towed away by an invisible force. Hot sand stings your eyes. You rub the grit away and focus on what is vacuuming up you and Stinko.
“It’s the Sand Blob!” you scream to Stinko. “Fight it!”
The black hole in the Sand Blob is sucking in everything in its path. Slabs of slate fly over your head. Whole sand dunes whisk by you. Your skin burns as grains of sand sting you on their way into the black hole.
You wonder if you could tunnel down into the sand. You might escape from the Sand Blob that way.
Then you think: Or maybe …
Maybe the Sand Blob will take us out of here. Take us someplace better.
If you think the Sand Blob may be a way out of this awful desert, let it suck you over to PAGE 110.
If you quickly dig a hole to escape, turn to PAGE 90.
“What’s happening?” Stinko cries.
“The tape!” you shout over the sounds of screaming cats. “The noise is making the whole place collapse! Run!”
But then a huge chunk of the concrete ceiling crashes down in front of you.
In front of the door.
You’re trapped!
The wall of cages falls forward, crushing everything in the way. Zoe vanishes underneath the pile.
A large chunk of plaster peels away from a wall beside you. You peer through the hole. It opens directly to the outside.
Out of the Fun Zone!
“That way!” you shout.
You and Stinko lead the kids through the hole. Then you gather in a circle and watch the entire Fun Zone crumble.
“Wow!” says Stinko. “Wait until Mom hears about this!”
“Yeah,” you agree. “Maybe next time she’ll listen when I say I don’t need a baby-sitter!”
THE END
“Rats!” you scream. “You want to turn us into rats?”
You struggle against the hands and claws that hold you.
“Don’t let them!” Stinko wails.
“It will only be temporary,” a creature with rat teeth, rat ears, and human eyes offers, tightening its grip on you.
“Being a rat isn’t so bad,” adds another mutant. “It’s being half rat, half human that stinks.”
“You only need to be rats long enough for us to collect some of your saliva,” Zoe explains. “That’s the missing ingredient in our secret formula. You must help us. You must!”
You gaze around. Some of the rat-people are switching back and forth between rat and human as fast as you switch your Game Boy on and off. With each change, they squeal in agony.
They must be miserable, you think.
“We’ll switch you back,” Zoe promises. “Trust us!”
The last time you trusted a bunch of rats, you ended up trapped in a tomb! Should you trust this group of half rats and eat the cheese?
Or does something tell you they don’t call them rats for nothing?
If you and Stinko eat the cheese, go to PAGE 60.
If you refuse, go to PAGE 93.
“The dragon’s breath is too hot!” you cry. “I have to let go! I have to cool down!”
You loosen your grip on the edge of the drawbridge. “Get ready to dive,” you instruct Stinko. “Now!”
You let go and plunge toward the water.
Bad move! That’s just what the hungry dragon was waiting for. He licks his dragon lips.
Then he exhales.
The burning blast of fire breath catches you and Stinko.
Instant barbecue!
You and Stinko are crispy critters now.
A little bit salty. But overall, a tasty dragon treat!
THE END
You dig a hole and drag Stinko into it with you. You burrow down as deep as you can.
The Sand Blob roars over the hole. Brrr! That wind is not hot — it’s freezing! You and Stinko huddle together.
Then — silence. The Blob is gone.
The hot ball of fire in the sky disappears.
A cool blue moon takes its place in a black sky.
You climb out of the hole and gaze around. The sand and the slate slabs have turned to ice! You take another step, and your ankles wobble. Your feet feel too heavy to lift.
“Ice skates!” Stinko exclaims behind you. “We’re wearing ice skates! How did that happen?”
“I don’t know,” you admit. “But it’s lucky we both know how to skate!”
You glide forward. Stinko follows you. Then he taps you. “You’re it!” he yells, and skates away.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” You laugh as you whiz by him. After all that terror, it feels good to kid around. “So long, Stinko!” you call back to him.
You skate right into Dare’s tattooed arms!
Oops!
Go to PAGE 106.
You shut your eyes, bend your knees, and hurl yourself across the canyon.
Oh, no! You don’t quite make it!
You slam stomach-first into the edge of the other side. Your fin
gers desperately claw at the dirt. It crumbles and falls around your head. Then you clasp a sturdy tree root.
Grunting, you pull yourself up over the edge. You lie flat on your back, panting. But you can’t rest. The angry, evil baby-sitters scream and throw dirt bombs across the gorge.
You scramble to your feet. Perfect! Just ahead of you is a cave entrance. Above it a sign reads: TO THE BOTTOMLESS BALL PIT.
“So long, suckers!” you shout across to them. You’ve got to find Stinko and get out of this crazy place.
You duck into the cave. But instead of coming directly out the other side, you face a dark path — and another cave entrance.
Which do you take?
If you enter the cave within the cave, turn to PAGE 120.
If you stick to the path, turn to PAGE 76.
The elevator stops on the thirteenth floor. “This is where we get off,” Dare announces harshly.
Using his only arm, he shoves you and Stinko out the door. A piece of a lizard tattoo falls off, leaving a new invisible spot on Dare’s elbow.
“We’re back in the tent where we started,” you murmur to Stinko.
“But the tattoos on the walls aren’t alive anymore,” Stinko whispers back. You can hear the relief in his voice. “They’re just pictures.”
Dare pushes Stinko to the side. Then he shoves you to the center of the tent. You stumble a few steps.
“On the X!” Dare orders you.
You notice two spotlights make a large X on the floor.
You stand on it and wait.
Wait over on PAGE 75.
Trust these horrible creatures? Of course you don’t!
“Forget it!” you yell. “No way!”
Nothing and no one can make you eat that yucky cheese. Not even these hideous mutants.
“That goes double for me!” Stinko hollers.
