Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (30 page)

As they entered the city square
,
only
Minco and three
others
were
left of the
twelve
that
had created
the diversion. They had certainly
achieved their goal,
for close to a hundred
undead soldiers followed
hot
on their heels
.

“We’re nearly there,” Minco called to the last of his men. “Keep going, we ju
st need to get over that bridge,” h
e
said, pointing
to
wards
the other side of the square.
If he h
ad not felt so exhausted, Minco might have enjoyed the irony. Not long ago, he had been
running towards another pyramid with the undead at his back.
Whereas
this city
, so unlike
the splendour of Cuzco,
all derelict and overgrown, the memory
still
came
rushing
back.

As they crested
the
rise of the
bridge
,
the doors
of the mighty pyramid
at last came into view. But contrary to expectations, only the remains of the splintered and shattered wood remained.
The damage
was
done when
Taipi and his priests had broken through
the barrier on their arrival.

Minco knew they needed
to find
some way of keeping the horde out
side
while they found
and destroyed
the
effigy
of Supay.
Pizarro
, Inguill and the others were already there and it seemed
that
they had come to the
exact
same conclusion.
A handful of men were perched
atop
the frame of the massive doors
, try
ing
to di
g out the
mighty
V shaped
keysto
ne that
gave it
all
its strength.
Two o
thers were digg
ing
out
the bottom two stones on each side while the last few
were lifting huge len
gths of timber up to where the
stone
s were
being removed.

Just as Minco and his men arrived
,
the
five-foot
high
keyst
one came crashing to the ground before them
, smashing into a hundred pieces
. The timbers were
quickly
slotted in
to the gap
and long lengths of rope dropped down from around them.

“Everyone get inside and pull
on the ropes
,”
Pizarro
shouted
as he saw Minco and the others arrive
. “P
ull as hard as you can!”

Minco and Inguill shared a
little
smile as
he joined the rest of the men
,
he too
grabbing hold of the ropes. N
o words
or further gestures
were
deemed
necessary
.

They pulled with all their might but
at first, the
wood
only creaked
under the
heavy
strain.
Just then, the great tidal wave of dead appeared
over the
ridge of the
bridge
and the sight of them renewed and
must have
doubled the strength of the pull
.

The
savage horde was
only
a few
yards
away when at last the
ancient
stonework
gave way
under the strain
.
Heavy
stone came crashing down
and echoed
like thunder
onto the entrance
,
creating a huge cloud of dust
. This
engulfed
both
undead and human alike
.

The
survivors of Cuzco
were blinded and could see nothing
for
a few
long
and
terrifying
seconds
, the lack of wind keeping
the
heavy
dust
hanging in the air. When it eventually
began to
settle
and
disperse,
they peered
through the
thinning cloud and at
last
, this was a
sight made
that made
them cheer fiercely.
The
large doorway
was
completely
blocked
by the rubble
. They could hear the beasts s
narling and
groan
ing in
clear
fury and anguish
.

Pizarro
was
wearing
his typical, grim face as he spoke
and checked on their handiwork
. “
That won’t hold
them back forever,” he said
to
both
Minco and Inguill. “Let’s
go
, we need to
get this
nightmare
over
.”

They all looked at the
pitch-black
passage before them.

18
-
Inside the Pyramid

A
s they were
working their way up
the
large
, long passageway
of the Pyramid
,
they
knew they
had to find the
location of the
main
room,
and
to
find that
statue of Supay
.
And far m
ore importantly,
they did not have the time to waste
,
for
Pizarro
was
as
right
as usual
. B
ehind
them,
they could hear the
myriad of
bea
s
ts clawing and scraping
away
at the rubble
that was
blocking their
entrance.
Scores of hands would make light work of even that huge barrier
. It
would
n
o
t
be long before
the undead
army
broke
through
.

“Follow me,” Inguill
whispered. She instinctively hushed the group with her own quiet voice and steps as they continued
down the
long, dark
hall. “If
the inside of
this py
ramid is
also
th
e same design as ours
,
the
n the
room will be
right
up
here.”
Minco raced to her
side. He
would
n
o
t let her out of his sigh
t again until this
was
finished
...or
at the very
least,
they were
.

They
did not slow
down
as they approached the huge statues
of demons and devils
that were lined up
halfway down the hall
.
No one wished to linger
any longer than was necessary
under those glittering, jewelled eyes that
seemed to follow their every step.

Simultaneously,
both Minco and
Pizarro
realised that it was
n
o
t only
the
statues eyes
that were on them. Twent
y dead soldiers
slowly, but purposely
emerged
from
their hiding place
s
behin
d the
thick
stone pillars
that served as the statues’ bases
.

“Form a
square!”
Pizarro
shouted. H
is men
quickly
formed a tight defensive formation
in the middle of the path
.
In the
dark,
narrow passageway
,
there was no room to manoeuvre and no way to
put
a
ny distance
between themselves and the
oncom
ing horde.

“
Don’t fire
yet
. L
et them get a little closer
first
,”
Pizarro
ordered
as
his troops
stood with their weapons pointing into the gloomy surroundings
.
The urge to shoot at the beasts was strong,
far
too strong for one of his men
. The young man
fired into the darkness and they
all
heard the
small lead
ball
hit
the
stonewall
with a crack
. “Fool,”
Pizarro
muttered under his breath, “Now r
eload
boy
and wait for my order
this time
.”

As the undead monsters came out of the
foreboding
shadows
,
the flickering flame
s from the
torches
lit up their snarling faces
. S
lowly
they
edged their way
closer
, their expressions were
filled with
more than a mindless desire to feed
.
Anger
was
somehow
etched on their faces
as
well;
the
se
marionettes of Supay mirrored his outrage upon discovering his temple was breeched
.

“
Pizarro
,” Minco whispered
, “
when are you going to fire,
the beasts
a
re getting
closer.” He could hear his own heart rattling against his ribcage.
“Anytime now would be good.”

The Spaniard just concentrated on the
closing
positions of the undead soldiers. His eyes darted back and
forth,
as he
chose
the closest
targets
.
When
they were less than
four yards away,
he
gave the order
.

“Fire!”
Pizarro
roared
at the top of his voice
.

The
muskets thundered and
blinding light
s
from the muzzles
lit the whole
of the
passageway
.
The soldiers dropped their guns
in favour of sharp swords and axes
as soon as they fired.
There would be no
chance
to
try
to
reload.
As their nostrils filled with
the
sulphur and their pupils adjusted back to the darkness
,
all the
group of Cuzco
’s
survivors
could do was wait.

Indignant
screams signalled
that
the
last of the
undead had arrived. The numbers on both sides were
close to
even
now that the muskets
had thinned out the
horde. After so many battles
, the humans
had lost a li
ttle of their
fear and
terror
.
F
or the first time
,
they took the fight to the undead
en-masse
.

“Kill them,”
Pizarro
shout
ed as he strode
deep
into the horde
. “Kill them all!”
His
sword flashed and stabbed
and he made weapons of his booted feet
.
He punched with his free hand, thick fingers curled into a formidable fist.
His men joined in on the attack along with Minco and the last of
his
Incan
warrior
s.

Therefore,
it was, f
or the first time since this
unholy
war
between the living and the dead had begu
n
,
the beasts were on the defence
.
A few even stepped back,
as if trying to get
away from the fight.
At long last, a single, human emotion fought its way into their rotten bodies and touched their
souls;
it was fear
.

Pizarro
was
well and truly on the warpath
. It
just
was
n
ot enough for him
to end the
miserable
half-life
of these beasts. He needed to destroy them, t
o annihilate them, to grind their remains
deep
into the dirt.
To
be fair,
he
had gone and
done a damn good job of it.
Even
Minco,
the great warrior
that
he
was
,
could
not keep up with
Pizarro
’s killing frenzy
. H
e got a handful
of them
himself but it seemed
to all
that most
of the beasts
had fa
ll
en
under the wrath of the Spanish leader
.

As the movement around them
slowed, then
ceased
,
they realised they had
at last, won a
major
battle
.
T
hey had lost three
more
of their men,
but the survivors
still numbered a dozen.

“Minco,” Inguill
sobbed
out loud
, “They got me.” Deep scratches spanned the length of her forearm and blood patted slowly in fat droplets onto the dry, stone floor as tears ran down her cheeks, leaving dusty trails
on their travels
.

Minco
gently
grabbed
a hold of
her arm
, examining
the wounds
as
Pizarro
came over to join them.

The Spaniard
took one look at the wound then
stepped
back
, shaking his head grimly
.
“Ki
ll her,” he said, his voice sounding grim
. “Do
her a favour
,
Protector, do
it now before she tu
rns.”

Minco
spared him a baleful glance before his eyes searched out his beloved once more
.

“If you can’t do it,”
Pizarro
continued
from a safe distance
, his sword still tight in his hand
. “I’ll be more than happy to do it for you.”

“Keep
the hell
back,” Minco screamed at him. “If you c
ome any
where near her
,
then
you’ll be the one who dies.”

“She’ll be one of them in
a matter of
minutes
,”
Pizarro
said quietly before
retreating
over
to join his men
.
They all watched Minco and Inguill in
a
solemn, almost reverence silence.

“He’s right,” Inguill said.
“
Please my love,
I don’t want to turn into one of those things.” She took his hand and
gently
placed it
back
on the handle of his axe.

He pulled his hand away from the axe and grabbed her
by the shoulders
,
pulling her to him and crushing her body against his as he felt tears threatening to spill over the rims of his eyes
. “No, Inguill.
”
Behind them,
he heard
the men
starting
to reload their muskets. He ignored them, holding her
back
at arm’s length
again
, forcing her to look into his eyes. “We can destroy the effigy before you turn.
” He
studied
her wounds
once more
. “It’s
just
small
scratches,
my love. We have time
.”

Minco st
arted
towards the main chamber with Ingu
ill’s hand firmly held in his. He threw
Pizarro
a threatening look
over his shoulder
,
silently
tell
ing
him to keep his distance.