chapter 1 WHO’S WATCHING Blood Barry Bannon stepped carefully to avoid the dark red drops on the grassy path Did the blood come from an injured animal Or something worse Maybe a chipmunk Barry said He turned to a hawk nabbed 6
his dog Lucy She sniffed at the blood and looked up It’s fresh Barry said Must have happened a few minutes ago Barry and Lucy walked through Marshfield Grove Cemetery every day They’d seen many things that were scarier than blood Ghosts were common here and in the town’s other three cemeteries Barry had seen them at night But the graveyard was peaceful during daylight The sun wouldn’t set for an hour yet 7
Barry and his parents lived right on the edge of Marshfield Grove Sometimes he’d sneak out to look for ghosts He knew the hot spots He considered this his cemetery His four friends also lived on the edges of graveyards They formed a group they called the Zombie Hunters Barry and Lucy climbed the hill toward their favorite gravestone Byron Mumford’s stone was a large granite rectangle It was much bigger than the surrounding stones The stone said 8
he’d died in 1887 The gravestone was surrounded by thick hemlock trees When Barry was little he called the spot Fort Mumford He’d sled down the hill in winter And in the summer he’d lie in the gravestone’s shade Today he wanted to write He sat with his back against the stone He took out his notebook Barry’s Diary Friday September 9 6 06 p m Visiting Mumford Was a hot day but it’s cooling off now Peaceful evening No trouble here in Marshfield Grove since that battle last 9
