Tick Tock, You're Dead! Read online

  BEWARE!!

  DO NOT READ THIS

  BOOK FROM

  BEGINNING TO END!

  Your little brother, Denny, runs off by himself in the huge Museum of Natural History building! You try to find him, but instead you discover the laboratory of the strange Dr. Peebles.

  The scientist “volunteers” you to test his new time machine! Wow, you think. I’m going to be the first time-traveling kid ever! Then Denny runs right into the machine — and vanishes!

  Well, your brother’s not lost in the museum anymore. Now he’s lost in time! You have to find him — again. But where? In the distant past, where fierce dinosaurs roam? Or in medieval times, battling with knights and wizards? Maybe in the future, where robots rule over humans! The one thing you know for sure is — you must find Denny in two hours or he’ll be lost forever!

  You’re in control of this scary adventure. You decide what will happen. And how terrifying the scares will be!

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

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

  Contents

  Beware!!

  Title Page

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  Teaser

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  What a crummy vacation!

  You, your little brother Denny, and your parents have come to New York City for Christmas vacation. You thought you’d get to do a lot of cool things, like visit the Statue of Liberty, ride to the top of the Empire State Building, and ice-skate at Rockefeller Center.

  Instead, your parents are museum freaks.

  “It’s entertaining,” your mom says as she drags you into the Museum of Natural History.

  “It’s educational,” your dad declares as he shows you a collection of ancient pottery.

  “It’s boring!” you say, but no one listens.

  And the worst part is that you’re supposed to be in charge of your little red-haired brother Denny. Only Denny doesn’t want anyone to be in charge of him. “You’re not the boss of me!” he keeps saying.

  You follow your parents through the Museum of Natural History. At first it is kind of interesting. You really like the dinosaurs.

  “Wait till you see what’s in this room!” your mom cries.

  Go to PAGE 2.

  You rush to the next room, expecting something exciting. But your mom is standing in front of a sundial. “Isn’t this wonderful?” she exclaims. “An exhibit on time!”

  Great, you think. A whole roomful of clocks! Boring!

  Then Denny gives you a karate kick in the back of the leg.

  “Ow!” you cry. “Stop it!”

  “You’re not the boss of me!” he says smugly.

  “Yes, I am!” you reply, punching him in the arm. He whines and complains to your parents. You can’t win!

  “I’m thirsty,” Denny says now. You can see he’s eaten almost half a bag of Gummi Bears in less than a minute.

  “Can you find a drinking fountain for Denny, dear?” your mom asks without taking her eyes off a grandfather clock.

  “Come on.” You grab Denny’s hand. But Denny pulls away and runs off down a hallway. You follow him. The hallway twists and turns. There’s no sign of either Denny or a water fountain. But near the end of the hall you see a sign on a door:

  WARNING!

  DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT INSIDE

  THIS DOOR MUST BE KEPT LOCKED AT ALL TIMES

  Go on to PAGE 3.

  Dangerous experiment? What does that mean? you wonder. You notice that the door is slightly open. Oh, no! Denny must have run in here, you think.

  You push the door open wider and peek in. There’s no sign of Denny. A tall, skinny man with long white hair tied in a ponytail is bent over a computer. The computer is hooked up to a big, strange-looking clock. Between the computer and the clock is a large square contraption that looks like a picture frame. You can hear the computer and the clock beeping and pinging.

  “It’s about time you got here!” the tall man says, straightening up. “I’m Dr. Peebles. You must be the volunteer.”

  “Actually,” you start to say, “I’m looking for —”

  “There’s no time to waste!” Dr. Peebles interrupts. “I’m ready to start the experiment. Come on over.”

  “Well, I —”

  “Here!” he says. He places a chain around your neck. On the end of the chain is something that looks like a stopwatch. A very, very odd stopwatch, with a complicated-looking dial and four big knobs.

  “Are you ready?” Dr. Peebles asks.

  Turn to PAGE 4.

  “Ready for what?” you ask.

  “Why, to travel in time, of course,” he replies. “You’ll be the first human in history to use my traveling chronometer.”

  “Chronometer?” you echo. “What’s that?”

  He points to the stopwatch around your neck.

  “I don’t have time —” you start to say, but he interrupts again.

  “Of c
ourse you have time!” Dr. Peebles goes on. “It doesn’t matter how long you remain in the past or future. When you return to the present, it will be the same moment that you left. It will be as if you weren’t gone at all.”

  “How does this work?” you ask, pointing to the stopwatch.

  “It’s easy,” says Dr. Peebles. “Press the button on the left side to travel to the past. Press the button on the right for the future. To return to the present, press the top button and the bottom button at the same time.”

  Cool! you think. What if this guy’s invention really works? Traveling in time would be awesome!

  “There’s no time to waste!” Dr. Peebles says. “I’m ready to begin the experiment now.”

  Hurry to PAGE 5.

  You think for a moment. Dr. Peebles obviously believes you’re someone else. But a trip through time sounds like a lot of fun. More fun than staring at crummy old bowls all day. And since you’ll return at the exact same time you left, you’ll still be able to find Denny and return to your parents before they know anything is wrong.

  On the other hand, Denny can get into a lot of trouble very fast. And your parents will blame you if anything happens.

  Make a decision now. Do you want to travel in time? Or should you look for your brother first?

  If you choose to volunteer for Dr. Peebles’s experiment, turn to PAGE 71.

  If you think you’d better stay and look for Denny, turn to PAGE 62.

  “Use the key and open the lock!” the woman begs.

  You hear the dragon’s heavy footsteps approaching. “What key?” you ask.

  “The key around your neck!”

  You glance down at the chronometer. It seems to be the same shape as the keyhole. “But this isn’t a key,” you protest. “It’s a chronometer!”

  “I don’t care what it is!” the woman cries. “Use it!”

  At that moment flames shoot out of the opening in the wall. The dragon’s huge, scaly face appears. Its evil yellow eyes narrow when it sees you.

  Quick! Make a decision! Should you try to use the chronometer as a key to rescue the woman? Or should you just get out of there as fast as you can?

  Hurry! The dragon’s about to breathe fire again!

  Use the chronometer on PAGE 94.

  Run out of the room on PAGE 117.

  KABBOOOM!

  You zip out the bottom of the chute just as the plant blows up. A moment later you are surrounded by cheering rebels.

  “You did it!” Jarmal slaps you on the back. “The war isn’t over yet, but I am sure that we will win.”

  “Now help me find my brother,” you say.

  “I’ve located him on the space station,” Jarmal tells you. “Some of the rebels sent him there for safety.”

  “I have to go there,” you say.

  Jarmal nods and leads you to a small space shuttle. “This will take you there,” he tells you. “Good luck.”

  You say good-bye, then strap yourself into the automated ship.

  Blast off to PAGE 98.

  As the dragon moves nearer, you can feel the heat from its fiery breath.

  What are you going to do?

  It breathes fire again. Flames lick your feet.

  “Dragon breath!” you hiss suddenly.

  The dragon looks at you, startled.

  “Dragon breath!” you say again.

  This time it takes a few steps backward.

  “Haven’t you ever heard of mouthwash?” you say.

  By now the dragon is hanging its head in shame.

  You’re not sure how much longer you can keep this up. But for now you’ve managed to stop yourself from meeting a fiery

  END.

  “I choose school,” you tell the judge.

  The robot policeman drags you off to another room in the same building. You are surprised to see that it’s a regular classroom with wooden desks, a blackboard, and a computer center. There is also a metal box the size of a closet standing in the front of the room.

  The desks are all filled with human students about your age.

  “We will continue the quiz now,” the teacher says in a hollow voice. “Anita, what is the capital of Ulan Bator?”

  A girl stands nervously. “I — I don’t know,” she stammers.

  “Then you must enter the frammilizer,” the teacher says.

  The girl bites her fingernails as she goes to the front of the room. She climbs into the metal box. The teacher slams the door shut and presses a button. The box hums, then glows bright green. When the door springs open, you gasp out loud.

  Turn to PAGE 36.

  “The battle has started!” Jarmal shouts. “The domination of machines over people will end! Are you with us or against us?”

  “Well, I —” Your words are drowned out by more explosions. The men and women around you have grabbed weapons and are racing down the tunnel.

  “I’m against the robots!” you shout to Jarmal. “But I have to find my brother! If I don’t get back to the present, we’ll both be stuck somewhere in time.”

  “That’s not my problem!” Jarmal snaps.

  You turn away from him.

  “We saw a child a day ago,” Jarmal says in a softer tone. “Perhaps he was your brother. But he ran off and hid from us. I promise we’ll help you find him — but only after you’ve joined us in fighting the robots. Do you agree — or not?”

  Think it over carefully. You have only an hour till your time runs out. Can you trust Jarmal to help you find Denny? Or should you go back up to the streets now and look for Denny there?

  To join the rebels, turn to PAGE 111.

  To search for Denny now, go on to PAGE 37.

  Denny loves dinosaurs. You decide to explore the swamp where you saw the dinosaur. You’re sure Denny went that way.

  As you move toward the swamp, tall, fernlike vegetation surrounds you. Your feet sink into the thick, mucky water.

  Through the trees you can see huge shapes moving about. Real dinosaurs! Cool! you think. This is just like Jurassic Park — only better!

  The dinosaurs are red, blue, green, and lavender — as colorful as birds. Some dinosaurs are the size of dogs and cats. Other dinosaurs are bigger than a house. They’re all munching on leaves and weeds.

  You’re about to move closer when a tremendous noise shakes the ground.

  The trees sway as the rumbling grows louder. And louder. What’s happening?

  You peer through the giant ferns toward a grassy plain. Your eyes grow wide. You can’t believe it. Lumbering toward you is — a Tyrannosaurus rex!

  If you dare, go on to PAGE 65.

  You reach into the pool of quicksand and feel around for the chronometer. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake violently. Under your feet the earth sways, and a deafening rumble fills the air.

  “What’s going on?” you yell to Denny. Smoke pours out of the top of a nearby mountain.

  “A volcano!” you shout.

  A second later, the top of the volcano blows off. Red-hot lava pours out. Even though the volcano is at least a half mile away, you can feel the heat against your skin.

  Large rocks, glowing white-hot, begin to land in the swamp like bombs. “Watch out!” Denny shrieks. “Duck!”

  You cover your head and throw yourself on the ground.

  Whoomp! A rock just misses you. It splashes into the mud and throws up a shower of mud and water and — something shiny.

  Could it be? Yes, it’s the chronometer!

  Quickly, you crawl over and scoop it up. It’s covered with mud. Desperately, you feel for the buttons on the side of the chronometer. Your fingers close on two of them.

  Press the buttons on PAGE 96.

  You push the driver aside and manage to get your hand on the steering wheel.

  You try to pull the truck to the right, but it’s much harder than you thought. The horrified faces of your family — including your own — loom in the windshield.

  “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” you scream.
>
  In desperation, you pull again on the wheel. With a sudden lurch, the truck veers to the right.

  You breathe a sigh of relief. You’ve done it! You’ve saved your family!

  But you’d better hold on tight. You still can’t stop the truck. And this time the runaway vehicle is headed right at a brick wall! Stop reading right here. You don’t really want to know what happens next. Let’s just say you were a hit on Broadway.

  THE END

  You smile. You knew you could count on your brother’s greed.

  King Ruthbert orders the knight at your side to free your hands. You pull the chronometer off your neck. Glancing at it, you see that you and Denny only have five more minutes before disappearing in time.

  “Denny,” you tell him, “this is your last chance to return to the present. Please —”

  “No!” Denny yells. “Forget it! I’m not going!”

  “Give the boy the trinket!” the king bellows.

  The knight beside you grabs for the chronometer. You whip your hands out of the way. The knight loses his balance and bumps you. You feel yourself falling off the platform — straight into the pot of boiling oil!

  Go to PAGE 106.

  “He’s just an ordinary twenty-first-century kid!” you protest.

  “I’m not ordinary!” Denny yells. “I don’t like this person,” he adds, whining to the king.

  “Listen to me, Denny!” you shout. “You’re in big trouble. You’ve got to come with me now!”

  “You’re not the boss of me!” Denny yells.

  “Boil this spy in oil!” shouts the king.

  “Yeah!” Denny agrees, clapping. “Boil the spy in oil!”

  “Denny, you’re my brother!” you protest in horror. But Denny just smirks his obnoxious smirk.

  Then the two knights grab you and begin to drag you out of the Throne Room.

  “Wait!” you shout. “You’re making a terrible mistake!”

  But no one listens. You’re dragged up to the roof of the castle. There, you see a bubbling black pot.

  Yikes! Your hands are tied behind you. You can’t use the chronometer. Unless a miracle happens, you’re about to be boiled in oil!

  Is this your lucky day?

  If today’s date is an ODD number, turn to PAGE 85.