by R. L. Stine
BEWARE!!
DO NOT READ THIS
BOOK FROM
BEGINNING TO END!
It’s bad enough that your mom thinks you still need a baby-sitter. Then Zoe from the KidsCare Agency turns up at your door. Whoa! Zoe has a rat tattooed on her ear. You have a feeling bad just got worse.
Zoe offers you a choice: fun? Or games? Whatever you choose, prepare for a scare! Can you take the horrors of the Fun Zone? Escape the Bottomless Ball Pit? Survive the swirling Sand Blob? Beat the evil games-master Dare at his own games?
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 choose well, you may survive your baby-sitter nightmare. But if you make the wrong choice … BEWARE!
SO TAKE A DEEP BREATH. CROSS YOUR FINGERS. AND TURN TO PAGE 1 TO GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS!
Contents
Beware!!
Title Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
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121
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126
127
128
129
130
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132
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134
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136
Teaser
About the Author
Also Available
Copyright
DING DONG!
“Get the door, please!” your mom calls from upstairs. “It’s the baby-sitter from Fun and Games KidsCare.”
“I’m too old for a baby-sitter!” you yell for the hundredth time. “Stinko’s the one who needs a baby-sitter. Or maybe a zookeeper would be better!”
“Mom!” your six-year-old brother whines. “I’m not a stinko!”
“Stop calling your brother that silly name,” your mother scolds as she hurries down the stairs. “I don’t have time for arguments. Dad is waiting for me in the car.” She smoothes her hair. “Now, answer the door and be nice. I don’t want you torturing this baby-sitter like you did the last one.”
“Who, me?” you ask innocently.
Your mother rolls her eyes.
DING DONG! DING DONG!
“I’m coming. I’m coming.” You shuffle to the door and throw it open.
And come face-to-face with a giant pink bubble.
Turn to PAGE 2.
POP! The huge bubble bursts in the face of a mousy-looking girl. “Hey,” she greets you. She peels the gum glob off the tip of her pointy nose. “How’s it going?”
You check her out. Straight brown hair hangs down to her waist. A long tie-dyed skirt and tank top droop on her thin frame. You know the perfect word for this girl: hippie!
Your mom joins you at the door. “Are you Mary Ellen?”
“Zoe,” the hippie corrects her. “From KidsCare.” She marches past you and your mom, straight into your living room. “Sorry if I’m late. Traffic was nuts. Some car went into a ditch.”
“I thought our baby-sitter’s name was Mary Ellen.” Your mom steps toward Zoe. But then your dad honks the horn in the driveway. Your mom shrugs. “I must have heard wrong.”
“No prob,” Zoe says. She tucks her hair behind one ear.
Your eyes widen when you spot the tattoo of a rat on her earlobe. You’ve seen some strange tattoos, but a rat? Weird!
Zoe notices you looking at her ear. She quickly yanks her hair back into place. Then she smiles at your mom. “You go enjoy your weekend. Zoe will take care of everything.”
For some reason, you don’t like the way Zoe said that.
Turn to PAGE 3.
“Um, Mom?” you begin. Then you stop yourself. You complained all day about having a baby-sitter. You’d seem like a real baby if you confessed that Zoe makes you nervous.
“We’ll be back the day after tomorrow,” your mom promises. Then she gives you a hard look. “And I expect everything to go just fine here.”
“Never fear, KidsCare is here,” Zoe recites. She reaches into her huge shoulder bag and pulls out a bag of chips. She starts munching.
Was it your imagination, or did Zoe say “KidScare”?
Zoe shuts the door behind your mom. You jump when the phone rings.
“I’ll get it!” Stinko hollers. He races to the phone. “Hello!” he bleats into the receiver. “Mary Ellen? There’s no Mary Ellen here. Oh, you’re Mary Ellen. Well, that’s okay. We already have a baby-sitter. Bye!” He hangs up.
“What was that about?” you ask.
“Some baby-sitter named Mary Ellen,” Stinko replies. “Her car went off the road. But don’t worry. I told her we already have a baby-sitter and we don’t need another one.”
“Mary Ellen?” you repeat.
Turn to PAGE 65.
You listen for the rats on the other side of the door. Silence. They must have gone to find a better snack!
You glance around. You’re in another hallway. It’s very narrow with high white walls. “That’s strange,” you murmur. “No roof.” The walls just open to the sky.
You don’t want to risk running into that pack of rats again, so you head down the hall. You hope it leads back to the main play area.
You turn left down another hall — and bang into a wall!
“Ow,” you mutter, rubbing your nose. Another hall branches off to the right. You walk down that. It bends to the left.
Ten steps later you hit a dead end.
You turn and hurry back the way you came. Or the way you think you came. Oh, no! Another wall!
Sweat trickles down your neck.
You’ve lost track of where you are!
You lean against the white wall. Will you ever get out of here? How will you find Stinko and escape from the Fun Zone?
You glance up to the sky above you. Could you climb up the wall and get out the open top?
As you gaze upward, something moves into view.
Something so horrifying, you can’t even scream.
Go to PAGE 36. If you dare!
A rumbling sound startles you. You spin around and see the walls of dead rats caving in on each other.
And on you.
“Help!” you scream.
At least, you try to scream.
But the second your mouth opens, a dead rat lands in it.
Yuck! And you thought brussels sprouts tasted bad!
Hundreds, thousands of rotting rat bodies fall, knocking you down. They pile on top of you.
You’re being buried alive!
No doubt about it — you’re in grave trouble. But don’t be too discouraged. Just put this book down and try again later. And better luck next tomb!
THE END
Carefully, slowly, you ease your body out from under the rats. If they’re as intelligent as your science teacher said, you figure they should be treated with respect. As you sit up, you gently remove the rats clinging to your clothing.
You shudder. You can’t help it — they’re creepy! But at least they’re acting friendly.
You think.
A large brown rat rubs his furry head against your leg. He seems to be asking you to pet him.
“Okay, little rodent,” you croon. You scratch his neck. “What do you say? Can you help me find Stinko?”
The brown rat lets out a loud squeak. The other rats swarm around you. “Hey!” you cry. “What are you rats doing?”
A few rats nudge and push you. Others pull you by your socks. They obviously want you to go forward. But why?
The rats gently herd you toward a dark hole behind the boiler in the shadows of the basement. You peek into the hole. You can’t see a thing.
Should you trust these rats?
Or should you make a run for it?
If you trust them, turn to PAGE 39.
Make a run for it on PAGE 127.
“What kind of games?” you ask suspiciously.
“Games where the winner takes all,” Dare drawls. “And let me warn you. I usually win.”
“I want to play,” Stinko pipes up. “I win a lot, too.”
“And what about you?” Dare turns a steely glance your way. “Do you dare to play Dare?”
“Dare, shmare,” you grumble. You don’t trust this guy, but you’re not going to let him know he scares you.
“Sure,” you declare. “I’ll play. Who goes first?”
“We all go together.” Dare spreads his arms wide. He swirls around and around until his tattoos blur. The colors blend into a spinning rainbow. His tattooed cape billows into the shape of a parachute.
“You know this game, I’m sure,” Dare calls, still twirling. “Each of you takes hold of one side of the parachute. Then, all together, we toss it up and run under it. Only the fastest can run under and get out before the parachute comes down.
“Are you ready? On the count of three! One … two …”
To see whether or not you make it out from under the parachute, you’ll need to do the puzzle on PAGE 84.
The larger of the two giant rats peers at you. “Stand back,” the huge rodent commands. “We are simply correcting a terrible mistake.”
You don’t believe it. Not only are you being addressed by a monster-sized rat — but it actually speaks English!
“Let me explain. Once we were all ordinary lab rats,” the rat continues. “Subjects in an experiment. A scientist injected us with human genes. We now have greater strength, size, and intelligence. But something went horribly wrong. Now we are trapped between being humans and being rats.”
Then, right before your eyes, the other giant rat starts … changing.
You watch in horror as its face twists.
Bulges.
Changes color.
Collapses.
And then reshapes itself — into a new face.
A face you recognize.
Your mouth drops open.
“Zoe!” you gasp.
Shut your mouth and turn to PAGE 130.
“I don’t want to play anymore,” Stinko whimpers.
“Too late to change your mind now,” Dare replies.
You whirl around to confront the strange baby-sitter. But you don’t see him.
Where did he go?
“Looking for me?” Dare steps away from a wall. Your mouth drops open.
The tattoos on his body shift and move just like the tattoos on the wall! No wonder you didn’t see him. He blends right into the walls as if he were camouflaged.
“What kind of baby-sitter are you?” you demand.
“One that likes to play by the rules,” Dare answers.
“And what are the rules?” you ask.
“Simple,” Dare explains. “Every game you win brings you to the next level. If you get to the highest level, you get to go home.”
You stare at the tattooed man. The swirling, wriggling tattoos make you dizzy. You’re almost afraid to ask your next question. “And if we don’t make it that far?”
“Then I win.” Dare smiles cruelly. “And you never go home. You become one of us. You join KidScare. Forever.”
Turn to PAGE 49.
You stay rolled up in a ball. The thought of sinking into the plastic sea again is too scary.
You keep your chin on your chest and wrap your arms around your knees. You feel yourself bob toward the surface again.
But now something even scarier is happening. You’re rising, all right — faster and faster.
Something is sucking you up to the top!
You peek out of your ball shape and see the mouth of a giant vacuum hose. One by one, scratched and dented plastic balls are being sucked up by the hose. Seconds later new balls are blown out the other end of the hose.
You try to resist.
But the force of the suction is too strong.
THWOOOOOP! You’re pulled in. Warm liquid plastic sprays over you from all sides.
Now you understand. The machine recoats the balls to make them shiny and smooth again. It doesn’t know you’re a human being! And pretty soon, you won’t know, either.
You’re one of the balls now!
See you around … and around … and around!
THE END
“Gotcha!” Zoe shrieks. She springs at you and clutches you in her mutant claws.
You shrink in horror. But you don’t resist. Not with all those gross rat-people lined up behind Zoe.
She shoves you and Stinko into a cage and padlocks it.
“Who are you?” you scream. “What are you?”
“We’re the rat-people,” Zoe explains. “We were created in a science experiment.”
“You’re ugly!” Stinko blurts.
“Stinko!” You clap your hand over his mouth.
But Zoe doesn’t seem to notice. She lets out a long sigh. Her whiskers twitch. “Things used to be great. We had super strength and intelligence. And we could switch back and forth between human and giant rat. But we need to eat our special Switch Cheese formula. Otherwise, we get stuck this way. Caught between rat and human.”
“Then eat the stupid formula and let us go!” you cry.
“We can’t,” Zoe says. “We’ve run out of the original batch of Switch Cheese. And we’re missing one key ingredient.”
Zoe presses her rat nose right up to the bars on your cage. She
grins evilly. “We’re missing grated kid!”
Turn to PAGE 53.
“I don’t think I can make it over that wall,” you confess.
“Would you rather face Zoe and the baby-sitters?” David demands.
You sigh. “You’ve got a point.”
You grab a rope and start climbing. David climbs the rope beside you. Hand over hairy claw.
“This is like an obstacle course in the army,” you huff.
“That’s exactly what it is,” David explains. “We all have to go through it. It’s one of the tests.”
Huh? What is he talking about?
But you don’t have enough breath to ask.
When you reach the top, something occurs to you. “Hey,” you call, jumping off the wall after David. “How did you know my baby-sitter’s name is Zoe? I never told you.”
“Shhhh!” David holds his claw up to his lips. He points to someone ahead of you. A figure in a military uniform.
“We’re here,” David announces.
The uniformed person turns around and faces you.
But it isn’t a person.
It’s a giant, human-sized rat!
Go to PAGE 19.
You roll an odd number on the dice. You quickly move forward that many spaces on the slate slab path. You glance down to see what this slab says.
But you’re not standing on a stone slab. You’re standing on a TV screen set into the sand! And instead of writing, a familiar face appears on the screen.
“It’s Dare!” Stinko gasps.
Dare gazes out at you from the screen. “I always knew you were odd,” he jokes. Then he winks.
The screen shakes. You and Stinko tumble off it. Into the hot white sand. “I’ve always found that quicksand is the quickest way to end a game, haven’t you?” Dare asks.
You struggle against the pull of the sand. You sink rapidly. First your ankles. Then your knees.
“No! Give us another chance!” you scream.
“Tut-tut,” Dare clucks. “That wouldn’t be fair.”
You’re up to your chest … your chin … your mouth.
Just before your ears sink into the quicksand, you hear Dare’s final words: “Too bad you rolled an odd number. In my games, the ODD one is always out!”
THE END
“Green,” you declare, trying to sound confident. “The Beast from the East is green.”
