Little Comic Shop of Horrors Read online

  Wait a second, you think.

  How do you know what he’s got in there? How do you know he’s not going to turn you into something even worse this time?

  If you trust Loudsnore, turn to PAGE 22.

  If you don’t trust Loudsnore, turn to PAGE 64.

  “We saw Milo last week,” Cammie remarks. “The werewolf was chasing us. Milo popped around the corner and stared at us. Then he shook his head, like he was annoyed. ‘I’ll never make my comeback this way,’ he said. Remember, Jack?”

  Jack doesn’t reply. He’s staring over your shoulder. You turn to see a bug crawling up the plywood wall. A big bug.

  Jack grabs for it. And Cammie snarls at him. It’s a sound you’d expect from a wild dog, not from a kid. Jack and Cammie seem ready to fight. You notice how skinny they are. And dirty. And how long their fingernails have grown.

  Suddenly, Cammie seems to remember you’re there. “Look, you need help,” she tells you. “Why not come with us?”

  “Yeah, you can meet the other kids,” Jack adds.

  Your eyes widen. “You mean there are more of us down here?”

  Jack nods. “We help each other.”

  Getting help, even from strangers, sounds good to you. But then again, you’re not too far from that trick stairway. You might be able to find a way out on your own.

  If you go with Jack and Cammie, move on to PAGE 124.

  If you turn them down and go on alone, go to PAGE 112.

  Everyone in the room is whooping and hollering to celebrate your victory. You peer down at the helpless former comic book host. He seems oddly calm.

  “Fine,” you yell over the noise. “We got him. Now what do we do with him?”

  “Make him let us go!” one of the kids yells.

  “Yeah,” Cammie cries. “Milo must know the way out of here.”

  But you find yourself thinking back to the speech Milo was making when you tackled him. He said he had a very serious reason for keeping the kids in the maze.

  What could it be?

  If you tell Milo to let everyone go, turn to PAGE 77.

  If you ask Milo what he’s up to, turn to PAGE 40.

  You gulp. But their faces seem friendly.

  “Why don’t you come with us?” Cammie suggests, stepping up to you. “You’ll be just in time for dinner.”

  “That’s right,” Jack chimes in, taking your arm in a firm grip. You try to shake off his hand.

  You can’t get free.

  “Uh — what is there to eat down here?” you ask.

  “Oh, we just take whatever falls our way.” Cammie grins at you. You suddenly notice how big her teeth are. How pointed.

  Jack’s smile reveals the same big, sharp fangs.

  Hope you don’t have a sweet tooth. Because it doesn’t look as if you’ll be around for dessert!

  THE END

  The trapdoor flies open more easily than you expected. You drop to your knees, eager to explore whatever is down there.

  But there’s no way down! No stairs. No ladder. Not even a rope to climb.

  Fog seeps up through the open trapdoor. As the misty wisps touch you, you shiver. You’ve never felt anything so cold!

  On instinct, you try to leap for the doorway. But it’s already too late. Your muscles won’t obey. They’re frozen!

  The fog is all around you now. A thin film of ice forms on your skin. Dimly, you notice Bob and another boy, peering through the doorway at you.

  “You were right, Bob. It was a trap,” the strange boy says. “That kid was just what we needed. Better a stranger should get hurt than one of us.”

  That’s all you hear. Then the icicles on your front half pull you off balance. You topple forward. Into the dark hole.

  SPLOOSH! You plunge into icy black water. A swift current whirls you away. What’s happening? you wonder foggily.

  Then you pass out.

  Wash up on PAGE 137.

  Tiny gray dots swirl around you. They land, covering your arms, your hands, your face.

  You try to brush the stuff away. It won’t come off!

  “Bugs!” Russell yells in horror. “They’re teeny, tiny bugs!”

  You feel a creepy-crawly sensation on your skin. Then it starts to sting — like millions of pin-pricks. You blink your eyes and hold your nose, trying to keeps the bugs away. But you feel suddenly weak. It’s as though these tiny things are sucking the juices right out of you!

  Alicia keels over, hitting the floor. She’s covered in gray gunk. She looks just like those piles of mold you passed in the other rooms.

  You must look like one, too, you think as you fall.

  And soon, that’s all you’ll be….

  THE END

  You want to get out of this maze now. Besides, Cammie and Jack are too weird for you. “Thanks, but I’d like to see how I get along on my own,” you tell them. You fake a smile. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

  You hurry out of the room.

  Behind you, they start snarling at each other again. “You let that kid get away!” Jack’s voice echoes through the maze.

  “Oh, right,” Cammie answers. “It was you and your bug-eating! You should never do that in front of newcomers.”

  “Speaking of bugs —” Jack’s voice stops. But you hear a loud CRUNCH! as if he’s biting into something.

  Something with a hard shell.

  “Come on!” Cammie orders.

  Then you hear their footsteps. Coming your way!

  Do you run? If so, turn to PAGE 50.

  Or should you try to hide? Turn to PAGE 125.

  When your eyes clear, you find Milo standing over you. He’s changed back to his usual ugly but not-so-scary self. A big grin stretches across his warty face.

  “You d-didn’t kill me?” you stammer.

  Your voice! It comes out as a gurgling roar.

  “Kill you?” Milo laughs. “Kid, you’re my gold mine! I’m going to make you my partner — my star!”

  “What?” You sit up — and bob squishily for a moment. What’s going on? Why is Milo so far below?

  You wipe a drop of sweat off your forehead. Eek! Where did that snail come from? And when did your hand turn purple?

  Oh, no. Milo has mutated you into King Jellyjam!

  “We’ll make tons of money!” Milo gloats. He waves a hand in front of his face. “Of course, some of it will have to go on breath mints and deodorant for you.”

  Your show is a big hit. You start with TV, but soon you’re starring in movies. Huge crowds turn out whenever you make a personal appearance. They love you!

  But the real moneymakers are your El Grosso Snail Farms. Where do you get the snails?

  No sweat!

  THE END

  You catch the test tube, but the top pops off. POOF! The world disappears in a puff of purple smoke. Your skin begins to crawl. Your bones ache.

  Then the cloud disappears. No — it’s just down around your middle. The lab seems smaller.

  No, wait. It’s you. You’re growing.

  The purple cloud is farther down, and the roof of the cave is coming closer and closer to your head.

  That’s ninety feet high! you think. That makes me —

  Your thoughts get jumbled as your head bumps against the ceiling of the cave. You close your eyes, bracing yourself to get squashed against the roof. But it doesn’t happen.

  You’ve stopped growing!

  Looking down at yourself, you realize you’ve changed. Your skin is green and scaly. And you have a thick tail.

  Gulping, you run your fingers over your face. Oh, no! Bulging eyes, scales, sharp teeth, tusks —

  Tusks?

  What kind of monster has Tex Loudsnore turned you into?

  Learn the worst on PAGE 34.

  For a moment, you can’t tear your eyes away from Frankenstein. But when he lurches toward you, you leap away. You dash down a hallway. The creature’s snarling cry echoes behind you.

  As you race through the next doorway
, you scrape against the rough plywood. Your jacket tugs you back when you take the next step. It’s caught on a bunch of splinters!

  You try to pull loose, but you can’t get free! And here come the monster’s scraping footsteps! Desperately, you wrestle out of the coat and keep running.

  You turn left. Then right. Then right again. After a few moments, the creature’s snarls become fainter. It sounds as if you’re losing him!

  Should you keep running? Or, now that he can’t see you, should you try sneaking away from the creature?

  One thing’s for sure — you’ve got to find the way out of this maze. Fast!

  If you run, turn to PAGE 86.

  If you sneak away, turn to PAGE 65.

  “Here, buggie-buggie,” you whisper. You’re worried. This is an important moment in comic book history. If one detail isn’t right, there might be no Ballistic Bug.

  The glowing bug scuttles toward you. You stick out your arm …

  Wow! Look at the size of that stinger!

  The bug buzzes around your arm. Then it strikes!

  “Yeeee-OW!” you yell. It’s a lot more painful than Peewee Parkbench made it look in the comic.

  In fact, it feels as if someone injected molten lava into your veins….

  You collapse, gasping. You can’t feel your hands or feet anymore. Something has definitely gone wrong.

  Remember how you worried about one detail being different at this moment in history? Well, there was. You were here, not Peewee Parkbench.

  And it seems you’re allergic to mutant bug-bites.

  Fatally allergic.

  The world starts to vanish in a red haze.

  Maybe you should start looking for a mad doctor….

  THE END

  “See, it’s hard to guess time. We can’t tell whether it’s day or night in Milo’s maze,” Cammie explains.

  “Milo’s maze?” you repeat. “So the guy in the comic shop is called Milo? Like the guy from The Cellar of Scary Stories?”

  “He is the guy from The Cellar of Scary Stories,” Cammie replies. “Or he was. The comic was canceled years ago.”

  “But if there’s no more comic, how could — wait a minute!” you yell. “Comic characters aren’t real! This is impossible!”

  Jack just shivers. “With Milo, anything is possible. He blames kids for not buying enough of his comic books.”

  “Is that why he trapped us down here?” you ask.

  Jack shakes his shaggy head. “We aren’t sure. Sometimes we catch him spying on us. We think maybe he’s trying to scare us.”

  “Trying?” you sputter. “I’m scared to death!”

  Shudder along to PAGE 107.

  “I’ll go first,” Cammie declares. She leans into the glowing mirror. Then she jumps back. “Whoa!”

  A face has appeared in the mirror. Milo the Mutant!

  “What are you doing in my room?” he yells.

  “We’ve got to get away!” Cammie cries. She turns to you. “What was beyond your doorway?”

  “Just a room,” you reply, “full of boxes of comics.”

  “I didn’t get a chance to look through my door,” Jack complains. “You called me in here.”

  You hurry to Jack’s doorway — and gasp. Stretching up to a trapdoor in the ceiling is a ladder. It’s made of dark wood, carved into twisting shapes — snakes, dragons, weirder creatures. It’s beautiful — but strange.

  You step toward the ladder. It suddenly begins to glow red. Wind swirls around it, flinging you back. The glowing form shrinks down until it’s barely a foot tall!

  Milo’s laughter echoes from the mirror next door. “That takes care of the magic ladder!” he cries. “Now I’ll start the spell to take care of you!”

  You gawk helplessly at the trapdoor in the ceiling. If only you could get up there. So near, and yet so far!

  Move it to PAGE 52.

  Your wings buzz frantically, but you can’t break Dr. Doof’s choke hold!

  “Now I’ve got you, insect!” he roars, shaking you.

  You try every trick you ever read in a Ballistic Bug comic book. But nothing weakens the grip of those steel-clad fingers. You’re about half a breath short of choking as Dr. Doof climbs to his feet.

  But then the evil doctor hauls you close and whispers, “Have you gone completely batty, bug? That sting-bolt of yours wasn’t in the script!”

  Script?

  What’s Dr. Doof talking about? Find out on PAGE 38.

  You tag along with the tour group, thinking hard. You don’t even glance at the huge, powerful machines in the nuclear plant. Instead, you keep your eyes peeled for a glowing insect. That’s the creature that will bite Peewee Parkbench and give him his amazing insect powers.

  At last, you spot the bug.

  Whoa, is that thing ugly! It’s obviously some kind of nuclear mutant. It looks like an overgrown roach — with a huge, nasty stinger. You couldn’t really see that part in the comics. All the picture showed was a line in the air and the word BZZZZZ! In the next picture, Peewee Parkbench yelled, “Ow!”

  Now you can see why.

  Do you really want to let that ugly thing sting you?

  True, you want to make sure comics history doesn’t change. But you also want to get back home. Maybe you should just jump to some other comic and keep searching for a mad scientist.

  Better decide fast. The bug is coming your way!

  If you use the magic words to leap to another Ballistic Bug adventure, turn to PAGE 15.

  If you let the bad bug bite, turn to PAGE 116.

  You roll, throw, or shove battered pieces of wood away. Your arms are tired and burning from all this work. And you still face the hardest job of all. Charlie is pinned under a whole sheet of plywood. How are you going to lift a slab of wood twice as tall as you are — and three times as wide?

  “I’ll try to push from down here,” Charlie says.

  “And I’ll — oof! — pull,” you say.

  You pull until you’re red in the face and your arms are shaking. But the wooden slab hasn’t moved an inch!

  Could it be stuck on something? You glance around — and notice a heavy bull’s hoof resting on one corner of the slab.

  Your eyes travel slowly up the bull’s leg. Past the heavy body. The eagle’s wings. And on to the lion’s head.

  The beast stares down at you. You’ve never heard of lions laughing before, but that’s what this one seems to be doing.

  Slowly, the beast paces forward. And you have nowhere to run, no walls to hide behind.

  Oh, well. It seems your luck was bad after all. But you were right about one thing.

  You stayed to help — and that was final!

  THE END

  You swallow hard. “Go for it!” you command.

  Tex Loudsnore hits a button. Streaks of blue lightning crawl along the barrel of the unconfrabulator. You close your eyes and stand absolutely still.

  Hey! You thought that having your atoms destroyed would hurt. Instead, you feel light. Incredibly light. As if the slightest breath could blow you away.

  You open your eyes to discover that Tex Loudsnore’s laboratory is gone! Instead, you’re floating among tiny, bright spots that look like stars. They glow brilliantly, red, yellow, blue, against the solid blackness.

  Giggling, you swoop upward. Multicolored stars twirl around you. Higher and higher you go, until the colored stars blur into a bright, harsh glare.

  You don’t feel weightless now, but heavy. Clumsy.

  Staggering around, you grab on to … a door handle! You stumble into a tiny store packed with vacuum cleaners. An old man with long gray hair grabs you by the arm as you almost fall.

  “You okay, kid?” he asks.

  Stagger over to PAGE 45.

  Milo is ranting as you, Cammie, and Jack sneak up on him.

  “I didn’t do all this for fun, you know!” the pumpkin-faced little man yells. “You’re all down here for a very serious reason, and I want you to — YOW!”<
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  Milo yells in shock as the three of you pile onto him. For a little guy, he’s surprisingly strong. Maybe he gets his muscles from shifting around those huge boxes of comic books.

  But, strong or not, there are more of you than there are of him.

  It’s a short, sharp battle. But in the end Jack has Milo’s right arm, Cammie holds down his left, and you’re perched on his chest.

  “You did it!” one of the captive kids cheers. “You got Milo!”

  Proceed in triumph to PAGE 108.

  These dirty, weird-looking kids know more about this maze than you do. “I’ll go with you guys,” you decide.

  “Fine,” Cammie replies. “Follow us.”

  They lead you quickly through the maze. You’re more lost than ever now.

  They yank you back when you reach a doorway. Jack raises a finger to his lips — the “be quiet” sign. You don’t understand why. It sounds as if somebody is using a chain saw on the other side.

  But as you tiptoe through, you find the noise doesn’t come from a machine. It comes from a pile of bandages on the floor.

  No, wait. Those bandages are wrapped around a body.

  Eek! A mummy!

  And the mummy isn’t dead — it’s snoring!

  Jack steps right over the sleeping creature. So does Cammie. They both beckon to you. The mummy makes weird gargling noises as you go to step over it. You’re shaking so badly, your toe pokes the creature right in the side.

  The snores stop. Withered eyelids open. Dried-out eyes like black raisins glare up at you!

  Get out of there to PAGE 60!

  I’m ahead of them, you think. And I’m good at hide-and-seek.