diff --git a/lib/load_gen/activities/include_only.js b/lib/load_gen/activities/include_only.js
index 38237c915d117d3af822509f57a0facac6f6b85c..a8aa5805b01967b672819ecd598298007e156379 100644
--- a/lib/load_gen/activities/include_only.js
+++ b/lib/load_gen/activities/include_only.js
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ client = require('../../wsapi_client.js');
 
 exports.startFunc = function(cfg, cb) {
   client.get(cfg, '/include.js', {}, undefined, function(r) {
-    if (r.code != 200) {
-      cb("for include.js fetch response code is not 200: " + r.code);
+    if (!r || r.code !== 200) {
+      cb("for include.js fetch response code is not 200: " + (r ? r.code : "no response"));
     } else {
       // XXX: check the checksum of body?
       cb();