Maze of Doom

by George Ivanoff

  About the Book

  You decide to try the lame-looking Maze of Doom at the fun fair. But once inside, you realise that this is no ordinary amusement. The maze is massive and there are traps and mysterious creatures at every turn. Then you come across an old fortune-telling machine, which predicts an eerie future …

  Will you discover the maze’s secrets and riches, or will you be trapped inside forever?

  You choose …

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  You Choose 3: Maze of Doom

  About the Author

  Books in the You Choose Series

  You Choose

  Copyright Notice

  Loved the book?

  For my daughter Alexandra, who’s a Lexi rather than a Xandra – G.I.

  A sign looms up in front of you in ghastly green letters: MAZE OF DOOM.

  You hesitate. Should you go in?

  There’s a short line of kids waiting outside the black, box-like structure. At $5, it is one of the cheaper attractions at the fun fair. It could be interesting … and you’ve still got half an hour before you’re supposed to meet your parents.

  You’re about to join the queue when someone rushes past you, knocking into your shoulder and making you stumble.

  The teenage girl goes straight to the front of the line, the other kids protesting. She gestures wildly at the weird guy selling tickets. He nods and lets her in.

  You wonder what that was all about, watching as a few more kids buy tickets and enter. There are only two more people in the queue. You wonder again if you should go in. It might be fun. Or maybe you should ride the rollercoaster again. Now, that was fun!

  If you decide to enter the Maze of Doom, go here.

  If you want to return to the rollercoaster, go here.

  You join the queue. There’s only one person in front of you. You watch him buy a ticket from the strange man at the maze entrance.

  The ticket-sellers at all the other attractions are wearing brightly coloured clothes as they shout and smile, trying to get the attention of passers-by. But this guy is wearing dull blue overalls and is quietly selling his tickets. No wonder the queue is so short.

  The man’s hair is jet black and looks weird, as if it’s a wig. The kid in front of you goes in and the man turns to stare at you. His eyes are wide and unblinking. He’s sort of old, but the skin on his face is tight and slightly shiny, like he’s had too many face lifts.

  You stick your hands in your pockets and rummage around for your money.

  The man’s hand shoots out and grabs your shoulder in a vice-like grip.

  ‘No need for that,’ he says in a croaky voice, cocking his head to one side. ‘My name is Soldeed and you may go in for free. Compliments of the Management.’

  He stares at you intensely with hard, lifeless eyes. A little thrill of fear shoots up your spine.

  ‘Most people look for the shortest path through the maze,’ he continues. ‘But I reckon you can find the centre, with its fortune and secrets … if you dare.’

  Soldeed releases your shoulder and gives you a small push towards the entrance. You stumble and look back at him. He is now taking money from the next kid. A line of eager boys and girls has formed behind you.

  You look at the entrance – a doorway with a tatty black curtain.

  The kid behind you pays her money and goes past, disappearing behind the drape.

  You hesitate, still feeling creeped out by that Soldeed guy. Perhaps you should return to the rollercoaster?

  If you decide to push aside your misgivings and enter the Maze of Doom, go here.

  If you choose to go back to the rollercoaster, go here.

  You head around the Maze of Doom, towards the rollercoaster.

  At the back of the building you notice there is a door that’s ajar. You can’t help yourself – curiosity gets the better of you and you peek in.

  Along the far wall of a medium-sized room is an array of screens, a chair positioned in front of them. To the left is a door. To the right is a bank of weird equipment with switches, buttons, metres, blinking lights and a large lever.

  You slip into the room and stare up at the screens. The top two rows are showing images from inside the Maze of Doom – kids laughing and talking, running or walking through a labyrinth of black partitions. There must be cameras inside the maze.

  The next two rows show strange images from other mazes. Among them is a hedge maze, a stone-wall maze, a maze of thorny brambles, a mirror maze and a glass maze. The final screen shows a starscape – a grey metal box floating in the void.

  You open the door on the left. It leads to the Maze of Doom.

  You examine the bank of equipment. You have an urge to touch the controls … just to see what they do.

  If you decide to randomly press one of the buttons, go here.

  If you’d rather pull the large lever, go here.

  You say you’re sorry.

  Soldeed stops shouting and stares at you.

  ‘Well, given you’ve apologised,’ he says, ‘we’ll talk no more about it. Never mention it again, in fact.’

  You look into his eyes and they begin to spin. You start to feel light-headed.

  You wonder why you’re here. You wonder where here is.

  Your vision clouds as memories escape.

  You rub at your eyes with the heels of you hands.

  You shake your head and take a deep breath. Your vision clears.

  You look up …

  Go here.

  You pull the lever.

  The lights wink out. The screens go blank. You try pushing the lever back up … but it’s stuck.

  Seconds later the outside door bangs open. The weird ticket-seller is standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the bright sun.

  ‘I’m Soldeed and I’m not happy!’ he growls. ‘You’ve been very naughty. Time to pay the price.’

  He advances towards you.

  Should you try to escape? Go here.

  Or it might be better to stay and apologise? Go here.

  Without thinking about it, you reach out and press one of the buttons.

  Nothing happens.

  You flick a switch.

  One of the screens goes blank.

  You press another button.

  A light starts flashing.

  Soon your hands are flying across the controls.

  You stop as an alarm starts blaring.

  There is a tremendous sound of rushing air and the door to the maze collapses inwards. Beyond it is a swirling vortex of stars in the inky blackness.

  There is a rush of air and the chair is pulled out into space.

  Space!

  How can a doorway in a fun-fair attraction lead to outer space?

  You don’t really have time to think about it. With a whoosh, you are swept out of the room and into the void.

  You gasp as the air is sucked from your lungs. You feel your blood straining in your veins, your heart pounding like it will burst any second. A red haze washes over your vision.

  And everything goes black!

  You pull back the curtain and enter the semi-darkness.

  You are in a dim corridor made of black partitions that are not much taller than you. You reach out and touch one. It wobbles as you push against it. Sounds of laugher and conversation echo around you, with the muffled noise of the fair in the background. Two boys enter and rush past.

  ‘This is gonna be so lame,’ one of them assures the other. They both laugh.

  The boys disappear around the corner and you feel silly for being scared. You smile to yourself and head into the maze.

  It is one featureless black corridor after a
nother, with junctions and the occasional dead end. Every now and then, you see the top of somebody’s head over the partitions, or you notice the wall wobble beside you as someone runs past on the other side. It really is a little bit lame.

  A group of girls come up behind you but go in the other direction at the junction.

  After a few minutes, you begin to wonder how big the maze is. The building didn’t look all that large from the outside. Surely you should have come out the other side by now? Unless you’re going in circles.

  You realise now it’s been a while since you’ve seen anyone.

  A few more minutes pass and you notice that you can’t hear anything. No laughter. No voices. Has everyone else found a way out?

  Then you hear a banging sound. Cautiously, you peer around a corner.

  A short corridor leads to a small, square room. Inside, someone is hammering their fist against a wall. It’s the girl who knocked into you outside the maze. You keep back and watch.

  She raps her knuckles along the edge of one of the partitions. The partitions! They are a lot taller in this section of the maze, reaching up to the ceiling. You lean against the wall. It doesn’t move.

  You look into the room. The girl kicks the wall in frustration, before taking a deep breath and resuming her knocking.

  You’re feeling a little uneasy now. Perhaps it’s time to get out of this maze and find your parents? But you are curious about the girl.

  Do you approach her and find out what she’s doing? Go here.

  Or do you continue on and try to escape this maze? Go here.

  You leave the fortune-telling machine and continue on through the maze. It’s not long before you find yourself back with the girl who’s banging on the walls. You must have gone in a circle in order to have returned here.

  You sigh and decide that you better talk to her.

  Go here.

  Soldeed takes a menacing lurch towards you. You try to sidestep him and run for the door, but his hand shoots out and grabs your wrist.

  ‘Ooh, trying to escape now,’ he grumbles. ‘Going to have to punish you for that!’

  In desperation you push Soldeed away, putting all your weight behind you. As he stumbles backwards he releases his grip. He crashes into the screens.

  The screens shatter and sparks erupt around him. You watch in horror as he twitches and convulses, thick smoke billowing out around him.

  When the air finally clears, Soldeed’s crumpled body is lying on the floor. You take a step towards him. He doesn’t look right. His face is half-melted and there’s a glint of metal behind one staring eye.

  Suddenly, he lurches forward, then gets to his feet. He lifts his right arm towards you. The hand drops away, revealing a metal tube. It flares!

  A beam of light stabs at the door behind you, blasting it off its hinges.

  You run out into the fairground. Not far ahead is a security booth.

  If you want to approach the security booth for help, go here.

  If you think it might be better to try to lose Soldeed in the crowds of fair-goers, head here.

  You continue on through the maze, moving a little quicker. The sounds of banging fade and soon you’re surrounded by complete silence. It’s been a while since you’ve come to a branch in the maze. It’s as if you are being led by an unknown force. You speed up.

  You suppress a scream as you round a corner and a face appears out of the gloom.

  You take a deep breath and calm yourself. It’s just a dummy – a seated figure, draped in scarves inside a glass-fronted booth. ‘Madam Zoltar the Fortune Teller’, it says at the top.

  You wonder why there’s a fortune-telling machine tucked away in an alcove inside a maze. Maybe this is what that Soldeed guy meant when he was talking about the ‘centre’.

  As you approach Madam Zoltar the booth lights up, illuminating the dummy with an eerie purple glow. You see that it’s quite old and in poor condition. The scarves are faded and moth-eaten. The paint on the dummy’s plastic face is chipped and peeling.

  ‘Let Madame Zoltar reveal your future,’ says an electronic voice, the hiss and crackle of an old recording behind it.

  A red button lights up on the front of the booth, below the window.

  It’s all just a bit creepy … but also intriguing.

  Do you press the button and let Madam Zoltar reveal your future? Go here.

  Maybe it would be better to concentrate on getting out of the maze? Go here.

  You watch for a few more moments, then walk right up to her and ask what’s going on.

  ‘None of your business,’ she says, continuing to bang on the walls.

  Maybe she’s looking for a secret passage? You tentatively knock on one of the partitions.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ the girl demands.

  You respond that you are trying to help.

  ‘You don’t even know why I’m here,’ she says. Then she sighs. ‘I guess I better tell you, then.’

  You nod enthusiastically.

  ‘It’s my boyfriend,’ she explains. ‘He came in here two days ago … and never came out. I’ve been searching for him ever since. That Soldeed guy let me in when I threatened to go to the police.’ She looks down at her feet. ‘But what would I tell them? That my boyfriend went into a fun-fair maze and didn’t make it out? They won’t believe me.’ She looks up, determination etched on her face. ‘So it’s up to me. I’ve got to find him!’

  Then she starts banging on the walls again.

  Is she crazy? Or is her story true? You’ve got to admit, Soldeed is rather creepy and the maze is very odd.

  If you think she might be nuts, perhaps you’re better off leaving her. Go here.

  But if you believe there might be something to her story, maybe you should help. Go here.

  You wander through the maze for a while longer. As you lean against the wall to rest, you notice a loose panel. You move it aside to find a short corridor leading to a door.

  You go through the door into some sort of control room. Along the wall to the right is an array of screens and a chair positioned in front of them. To the right of the screens is a bank of weird equipment with switches, buttons, metres, blinking lights and a large lever. On the opposite wall is another door.

  You slip into the room and stare up at the screens. The top two rows are showing images from inside the Maze of Doom – kids laughing and talking, running or walking through a labyrinth of black partitions. There must be cameras inside the maze.

  The next two rows show weird images from other mazes. Among them is a hedge maze, a stone-wall maze, a maze of thorny brambles, a mirror maze and a glass maze. The final screen shows a starscape – a grey metal box floating in the void.

  You open the door on the far wall. It leads out to the fun fair.

  But you are fascinated by the equipment – all those switches and buttons. You go to examine it. You have an urge to touch the controls … just to see what they do.

  If you decide to randomly press one of the buttons, go here.

  If you choose to pull the large lever, go here.

  Of course, you could just leave. Go here.

  As you and Xandra make your way along the difficult path, you have to climb over and under bramble branches in order to avoid the thorns.

  Surprisingly, it’s not long before the brambles thin out and you can walk freely again. Up ahead is a towering wall of brambles with a small opening. You squeeze through, to be greeted by an amazing sight.

  There is a castle with a turret, surrounded by a moat. Ahead of the drawbridge is a sleeping dragon. About the size of a large elephant, the dragon is covered in purple scales that twinkle in the sunshine.

  You are out of the maze … but now what do you do?

  If you want to try to sneak past the dragon and cross the drawbridge, go here.

  If you think it might be safer to go around the castle and see what lies beyond, head here.

  You run to the security booth. Ther
e’s a window at the front, where a middle-aged woman with three whining toddlers is talking to a security guard. Glancing over your shoulder, you see Soldeed is still heading towards you. You go around the side of the booth and knock rapidly.

  A security guard in a blue uniform opens the door and you push past him inside.

  ‘Yo! What’s with you, kid?’ says the guard. ‘You’re not allowed in here.’

  You try to explain that you’re being chased by a robot.

  ‘Sure you are.’ The guard laughs. ‘And I’m a robot too. Beep, beep!’

  The other guard has finished talking to the woman, who leads her three kids away.

  ‘What seems to be the trouble here, Sam?’ he asks.

  ‘Oh, it’s dreadful, George,’ says Sam. ‘This kid here is being chased by a rampaging robot.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ laments George. ‘Don’t you hate it when that happens.’

  The two guards dissolve into gales of laughter.

  Through the window you see Soldeed getting nearer. Are these security guards going to be of any help?

  Should you stay with George and Sam, and try to convince them you’re telling the truth? Go here.

  Or, with Soldeed edging closer, would you prefer to run back out into the crowds? Go here.

  You race into the crowds, dodging your way around people, occasionally pushing past those you can’t avoid. You glance behind and see that Soldeed is following you, the crowd parting for him.