Mummy Read online

  CONTENTS

  Mission Statement

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  EQUIPMENT

  Monster Hunter

  About the 2Steves

  About the illustrator: Paul Davidson

  Copyright

  If you liked this, you’ll love…

  Also by the 2Steves...

  Mission Statement

  You are the hero of this mission.

  Each section of this book is numbered. At the end of most sections, you will have to make a choice. The choice you make will take you to a different section of the book.

  Some of your choices will help you to complete the adventure successfully. But if you make the wrong choice, death may be the best you can hope for! Because even dying is better than being UNDEAD and becoming a slave of the monsters you have sworn to destroy!

  Dare you go up against a world of monsters?

  All right, then.

  Let’s see what you’ve got…

  Introduction

  You are an agent of G.H.O.S.T. — Global Headquarters Opposing Supernatural Threats.

  Our world is under constant attack from supernatural horrors that lurk in the shadows. It’s your job to make sure they stay there.

  You have studied all kinds of monsters, and know their habits and behaviour. You are an expert in disguise, able to move among monsters in human form as a spy. You are expert in all forms of martial arts. G.H.O.S.T. has supplied you with weapons, equipment and other assets that make you capable of destroying any supernatural creature.

  You are based at Arcane Hall, a spooky and secret-laden mansion. Your butler, Cranberry, is another G.H.O.S.T. agent who assists you in all your adventures, providing you with information and backup.

  Your life at Arcane Hall is comfortable and peaceful; but you know that at any moment, the G.H.O.S.T. High Command can order you into action in any part of the world…

  Go to 1.

  1

  You are at a stadium in London, watching your favourite football team and cheering them on.

  Your phone rings with the Ghostbusters theme. You answer it. “Not now, Cranberry! We’re playing against United and they’ve just scored!”

  “Very disappointing, I’m sure,” says Cranberry, “but you’re needed at the British Museum.”

  To tell Cranberry you’ll go at the end of the match, go to 12.

  To leave the stadium at once, go to 31.

  2

  You fire a Keep Mum round at one mummy. While it struggles helplessly in the net, you have time to reload and take out the second mummy before it can grab you.

  “Well done, Agent,” says Cranberry. “That appears to be all the escaped mummies accounted for. And I have some interesting news about Selma Masry.”

  “The Curator of Egyptology at the British Museum?”

  “Exactly. She’s been spotted at Heathrow airport.”

  “That’s impossible,” you say. “I saw Curator Masry being kidnapped by a bunch of mummies — if she’s at Heathrow, how did she get away, and where did the mummies go?”

  “Well, Border Control say she’s just boarded a flight to Cairo.”

  “Cairo, Egypt?”

  “Well done, agent!”

  “There are a lot of mummies in Egypt,” you say thoughtfully.

  To follow Curator Masry, go to 15.

  To dismiss the sighting as the wrong person, go to 30.

  3

  As you creep along an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, you hear chanting from the inner court of the temple: “Amun-re! Amun-re!”

  The Mummies’ Institute is getting started, you think.

  You use the drone to spy out ways of getting to the precinct unseen. There seem to be two possibilities. You make your choice.

  To head there via the Hypostyle Court, go to 38.

  To approach via the Sacred Lake, go to 46.

  4

  You raise the Keep Mum launcher and fire.

  A weighted net shoots out and wraps itself around the nearest mummy, who is instantly so tangled up that it can’t move.

  But as you struggle to reload, you remember (too late) Cranberry’s instruction: “Only effective against one or two mummies at a time…”

  Reloading takes time you don’t have and now you’re surrounded by angry mummies.

  Go to 33.

  5

  You check the dial of your YMWLI weapon is still set to 1,500 years, and fire.

  The mummies in the precinct collapse into dust. Some try to stop you, but you are out of their reach, and the few that try to climb towards you lose their grip and fall. The flying stones that were coming together to rebuild the temple crash to the ground.

  In the midst of the chaos, you see Curator Masry waving her arms as she chants a spell — and disappears.

  You abseil down from your perch and run to where she was standing. The Book of the Dead is still where she left it. You send an image of the open page to Cranberry for translation.

  Tense moments pass before Cranberry says, “Not good, Agent. Just before she disappeared, Curator Masry cast a spell to take her to the Land of the Dead.”

  To declare your mission completed, go to 28.

  To follow Masry to the Land of the Dead, go to 35.

  6

  “Mummies can’t just come alive,” you tell the Curator.

  “Of course not,” she says angrily. “But a mummy is the mortal remains of a pharaoh, a queen or an important priest or official: legend says they can be reanimated if their ka — their soul — is brought back from the afterlife by a spell read from the ancient Book of the Dead. And mummies are very, very strong.”

  “Maybe,” you say, “but they’re covered in bandages, and dry as dust. And if they’re dry, they’ll burn.”

  To go into the museum alone, go to 44.

  To take Curator Masry with you, go to 22.

  7

  “I’ll figure it out as I go,” you tell Yussuf.

  Ignoring his protests, you blow the museum door open with a small explosive charge and burst in.

  You make your way to the main exhibition hall. Here, among statues of ancient Egyptian gods and pharaohs, and cases of archaeological finds, you come upon a gathering of lurching mummies.

  As they turn towards you, growling, you aim the YMWLI weapon at them. Let’s see how powerful this is, you think. You pull the trigger.

  Nothing happens.

  Uh-oh.

  Then the mummies are upon
you.

  Go to 33.

  8

  You hold Masry while Osiris takes your heart from the scales and replaces it with hers. The scales move instantly. Masry’s heart is much heavier than the feather.

  Anubis signals for you to release Masry. You do so and step back.

  Masry turns to run, but too late. A ghastly creature with a lion’s mane and crocodile’s head rises from the pit and snatches her in its jaws before sinking back into the darkness. Curator Masry sought power in the Afterlife. Instead, she has found only everlasting oblivion.

  Anubis gestures again…

  Go to 50.

  9

  You step out of hiding, firing your Keep Mum. As one mummy struggles in its net, you drop the launcher and fire your WHAM gun with your right hand and YMWLI with your left.

  Either side of you, mummies grind to a halt as the WHAM’s WHack A Mummy spray dries on their bandages or they crumble into dust in the beam of the YMWLI.

  You whistle in appreciation of the new weapon’s power. “Your Mummy really Wouldn’t Like It!”

  Before long, the room is clear of reanimated mummies — but Curator Masry is nowhere to be seen. You race outside just in time to see a helicopter taking off from the museum forecourt.

  Cursing, you head back to the Spook Truck where Yussuf is waiting. “I’ve stopped the mummies here,” you tell him, “but Masry is the one who is reanimating them. She could have gone to find more.”

  “Then I think I know where she will go,” says Yussuf.

  To listen to Yussuf’s suggestion, go to 49.

  To ignore it, go to 27.

  10

  You race from the museum to the Spook Truck. You’ll need more weapons to deal with a mass outbreak of mummies!

  “Take the WHAM gun,” advises Cranberry over the comms link.

  You check labels. “WHack A Mummy gun — check. And I’ll take the Keep Mum too.”

  “Effective,” Cranberry comments, “but only against one or two mummies at a time. Wait — news coming in. Mummies are attacking the Lord Mayor’s Show. The show is a big street parade with floats, dancers and marching bands — you don’t want it wrecked by mummy mayhem.”

  “Okay, I’m on it.”

  To take the Spook Truck, go to 32.

  To go on foot, go to 25.

  11

  You use all your martial arts skills against the mummies — but being undead, they feel no pain: and they are VERY strong.

  They grab you by the wrists and ankles. For a moment they swing you to and fro… Then they tear you in half. It really hurts.

  Pull yourself together and go back to 1.

  12

  “Everything in the museum has been there for centuries,” you tell Cranberry. “Whatever’s wrong can wait until the end of the match.”

  Cranberry sniffs. “If you say so, Agent.”

  Ten minutes later United are two up and your phone rings again. This time it’s the Director General of G.H.O.S.T. and she is not happy!

  “When I say, ‘Jump!’, you jump, Agent! Right away! Am I clear?”

  You’re on a yellow card already. Annoying the DG any more is a sure way to get to red.

  “Yes, ma’am,” you mutter. “I’m on my way.”

  Go to 31.

  13

  You doze fitfully as the Spook Truck races towards Luxor.

  Yussuf wakes you. “According to the radio, there’s a big thunderstorm over the Valley of the Kings.”

  “I didn’t think it rained there.”

  “It doesn’t,” says Yussuf grimly.

  Cranberry calls. “An army of mummies from the Valley of the Kings is descending on the Temple of Karnak.”

  You sigh. “This just gets better and better.”

  “Something very big is happening.” Yussuf looks frightened. “I think Curator Masry is trying to raise the power of Amun — the greatest of the Egyptian gods. If she can control that then Masry will be all-powerful — the world will be doomed.”

  You call up a map of Karnak from the internet and upload it to your helmet visor’s head-up display. As soon as the Spook Truck arrives at the temple, you take your weapons and make your way inside.

  You check the display. The Precinct of Amun is the oldest part of the temple. You take a fist-sized drone from your backpack and send it into the temple. Sure enough, its camera reveals a huge gathering of mummies in the precinct. In the centre, wearing the mask of Anubis, stands a woman you recognise from her clothing as Curator Masry.

  This doesn’t look good.

  To try to reach Masry without being seen, go to 3.

  To launch an immediate attack, go to 39.

  14

  You decide to stay in the truck, hoping the traffic will clear. But it doesn’t, and before long your phone rings. It’s the Director General of G.H.O.S.T.

  “You’re too late,” she yells. “While you’ve been sitting there like a spare part, the mummies have taken over London! You’re fired…”

  Go to 1.

  15

  Two hours later you are in the Phantom Flyer, heading for Cairo.

  You call Cranberry on the comms link. “I need more information. How does the whole reanimation thing work? Curator Masry said the mummies’ souls had to be brought back from the afterlife.”

  “That’s right,” says Cranberry, “using a spell from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.”

  You shiver. “Sounds creepy.”

  “You’re a G.H.O.S.T. agent,” Cranberry reminds you. “‘Creepy’ is what you do.”

  The Phantom Flyer is faster than the Curator’s commercial flight, and you are waiting in the arrivals hall by the time she leaves the airport. You tail her to the Egyptian Museum.

  To confront the Curator, go to 40.

  To keep watch and call for backup, go to 34.

  16

  Angrily, you hurl Masry from you. She disappears into the pit with a scream.

  But the scales of judgment move again: your heart is now heavier than the feather. You have shown anger, and have failed Anubis’s test.

  With a gesture, Anubis banishes you to the pit of lost souls; you follow your enemy into oblivion.

  Temper, temper! Go back to 1.

  17

  You grab a spear from the wall rack — but it is very old. The shaft crumbles to dust in your hands and the steel spearhead clatters on to the floor.

  Before you can react, you are surrounded by mummies.

  Go to 33.

  18

  You make your demand at the top of your voice.

  Anubis is angry. He raises his staff. You find yourself flying through the air and tumbling into the pit.

  Instinctively, you know that you are being banished to the underworld where those who have offended the gods simply cease to exist. There is no way back.

  Don’t mess with the gods, ’cos the gods don’t mess. Go back to 1.

  19

  You glance at the Egyptian museum door that the Curator used. “There’s no time to lose. I’ll go in this way.”

  You blast the door open and go inside, along a dark corridor. You have hardly taken six paces before you are clubbed on the head from behind. You slump to the floor, unconscious.

  When you come to, it takes you a few seconds to realise that you have been disarmed — and you are in some kind of stone box. A grinding noise makes you look up — and give a cry of fear.

  You are in a sarcophagus — a stone coffin — and mummies are closing the lid on you. They seem to enjoy doing to you what was once done to all of them. The difference is, they were dead at the time.

  You scream and scream, but no one hears. You are helpless — and so is Cairo.

  You’ve been put back in the box. Go back to 1.

  20

  You raise the WHAM gun and fire.

  A powerful spray shoots from the barrel of the gun. The spray contains a fast-setting glue that penetrates the mummies’ bandages and makes them hard. Gradually, all the m
ummies grind to a halt.

  You pat the empty gun. “That’s the way to WHack A Mummy.”

  “I’ll have the police tidy up here,” says Cranberry. “And I’ll try and find out where the mummies took Director Masry. I don’t think this is over yet.”

  If you’ve already dealt with the mummies at Cleopatra’s Needle, go to 41.

  If you haven’t, go to 48.

  21

  You stride forward and snatch the phone. “No, no,” you tell the bemused mummies. “You’ll never get all of you in the shot that way. I’ll do it…” You point the camera and shake your head. “Now, you’re in, but I can’t get the Needle — tell you what, climb on the wall — yes, behind you — up you go! Up, up!” The mummies climb hesitantly on to the wall between the pavement and the River Thames. “That’s better — I still can’t get you all in though — take a step backwards…”

  SPLASH! You look over the wall. The mummies have fallen in the river. Their bandaged bodies are already starting to come apart as they float away, you wave them goodbye.

  “Rest in pieces…”

  If you haven’t dealt with the mummies at the Lord Mayor’s Show, go to 37.

  If you have, go to 41.

  22

  You creep through dark exhibition halls until you reach the Ancient Egypt section. Curator Masry flicks a switch and lights come on to reveal the hall is full of lurching mummies! One reaches for you, but sees the flame pistol and stops.