Ghoul by Brian Keene Page A

asked. “You must have worked on it, like, forever.”
    Smiling, Doug shrugged. “It was easy. I did a lot at night, after my mom had gone to sleep or was watching TV. I stayed up late. It was fun. Used a whole box of colored pencils.”
    Timmy's eyes shone. “This is so cool. We can mark off stuff as we discover it. And you even left room around the edges.”
    “Yeah. I figured when we explore those places, we can add it to the map.”
    Timmy's index finger traced the roads. “Cool. You even added Ronny, Jason, and Steve's forts.”
    “The one's we know about, at least.”
    “We can use this to plan our strategy before we raid them. Make sure we have escape routes and stuff like that.”
    “That's what I figured,” Doug agreed. “We can hang it up, and you can mark stuff on it, just like a real general would.”
    Timmy smiled. “General Graco. I like the sound of that.”
    “How come you get to be the general?” Barry flicked Timmy's ear with his thumb and index finger. “I didn't vote for you.”
    “You don't vote for generals,” Doug said.
    “Yeah, well, I outrank you, even if Timmy's the general.”
    “No way.”
    Timmy turned their attention back to the map. “Hey, we could even--”
    “Listen,” Barry whispered, interrupting. “You guys hear that?”
    “What?” Doug asked.
    They tilted their heads upward, straining to listen.
    “Timmmmmyyyyyyy!”
    The voice was faint, but drawing closer. It was his mother.
    “Timmy? Where are you?”
    “Oh, man,” Timmy moaned, “if she finds out about this place, she'll never let me play here again.”
    Barry rolled up the map. “Why not?”
    “Because she'll freak out and worry that it will collapse on us or something.”
    “What do you think she wants?” Barry stuffed the map back in its protective tube.
    “It ain't lunch time.”
    “Probably wants me to help my dad. Let's just stay down here till she's gone.”
    “Timmmmyyyy? Timmy, answer me!”
    Barry slapped his forehead. “Oh shit. The bikes are up there, man. If she sees them, she'll know we're around here somewhere.”
    “So? We're underground. She can't find us.”
    “Yeah, but if she's looking in this spot, she might notice the stovepipe, and figure it out.”
    “Shit. You're right.” Timmy thought of his grandfather. The stovepipe had given the fort's location away to him as well.
    Quickly, they blew out the lantern and clambered up the ladder again, scrambling for the bikes. Timmy's mother stood about fifty yards away on the cemetery's lower road. Her back was turned to them as they approached. She called out again, hands cupped around her mouth.
    Timmy pedaled towards her before acknowledging her cries.
    “I'm here, Mom.”
    Elizabeth Graco spun around, and Timmy was surprised to see that she was crying.
    Black mascara ran down her cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her expression was frantic and worried.
    “Timmy, where were you? We've been looking all over!”
    His spirits sank. He was in trouble now. It appeared that his grandfather had been unsuccessful in convincing his father to let Timmy have the day off.
    “I--I was just...”
    “Come home, now. Your father's on his way to the Hanover Hospital.”
    Timmy's pulse accelerated. “The hospital? What happened? Is he okay?”
    “It's your grandfather.” She took a deep breath. “He ... he had a heart attack.”
    “Grandpa?”
    Sobbing, his mother nodded.
    “What's wrong with Grandpa?”
    “The paramedics think it was a heart attack,” she repeated.
    “Is he going to be okay?”
    She began sobbing again.
    “Mom? Is he all right?”
    “No ... He's gone, Timmy. He passed away.”
    Chapter Three
    Dane Graco had suffered a massive heart attack just after Timmy and Doug left the house. He was dead before the paramedics arrived. Timmy's mother had found him slumped over on the couch when she came into the living room to tell Timmy to go help his father in the garden.
    Although the next morning was Sunday, the Graco's