Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (16 page)

It was t
he High Priest
himself
,
Taipi was
proudly
watching
as
his army
did its best
to
destroy the city
.
Taipi was the cause for all this death
...Minco
vowed
to
take his revenge
on
him,
or whatever he was now,
even if it was the last thing he did
.

The forces of Cuzco that started this battle numbered in the thousands. Now, b
arely a
few hundred
remained to face t
he Ukhu Pacha.
Not even enough men to
keep
the gates
closed
against the teeming masses of undead
that were
forcing their weight upon them. They
had failed. The beasts
were pouring
inside the city walls
and spreading out in all directions
. Minco
let out the breath he was holding. Resignation filled his
spirit,
as
he
knew that t
he citizens of Cuzco were
all but
doomed.
He only had
the
one goal left and he would fight to his last breath to accomplish it.

“
Everyone
,
g
et b
ack to the palace,” Minco shouted to the
last
remnants
of his
once mighty
army
. “
Now
!
We
must
protect the King
at all costs
!”

As he and his men ran through the
narrow
streets
towards the palace
,
dozens of
Cuzco
’s citizens
appeared from their homes
. They dropped to their knees
, begging
their Protector to save them from the undead
army
. Minco
grimly ran by
them
, keeping his eyes trained
directly
ahead
.
H
is title was indeed
The
Protector o
f Cuzco
,
but his main
duty was
always
to the King.

There was
no choice, no other option. Years ago, Minco
had
taken a
solemn
pledge
to protect his monarch
at whatever the
cost
.

10
-
A City
under
Attack

Chaos reigned.
The streets of this once great
and beautiful
city
were now
being destroyed and overrun by the rapidly growing army
of Supay
. A great sea
of the undead
rac
ed
in
from the
open
gate
s
,
and
was
now en-route to
the palace
.
The desperate c
itizens of Cuzco had no chance
and no means of escape.
The
ir
desperate
screams
for help or mercy
that echoed around
the high cliffs
only cemented
their fate
,
as
their calls led the beasts straight to them
, right to their next meal
.

A myriad of m
en
, wome
n and children
ran
in a
mad
panic
through the
narrow
streets
,
there was
nowhere
to go but
right
into th
e eager arms of the undead.
Every corner they turned, every street they
traversed
,
was rife with
the
hungry
monsters.
The
lucky ones
were
the few who were
eaten down to the bone
. O
thers were only infected
with a few
choice
bites
and
they were
left on the ground
to turn
into one of their own
. Within
a matter of
minutes
,
those
victims rose to their feet and joined
in
on
the hunt for fresh meat
.

In
a last act of
desperation,
s
ome
of the
citizens
even
tried to barricade themselves inside their homes
,
but mere
strips of
wood
and nails were
no match for
the
sheer
,
brutal
strength of the
horde. Families
that
huddled together
,
hoping to hide
away
in cellars to
ride out the
vicious
storm
were
quickly
found and
as th
e monsters burst into their room
s
were ripped apart
.

By this time,
Pizarro
had
been
drawn back
outside
the palace
due to the noise of the battle. He
’d
never
been
one
to hide
his head in the sand during times of trouble and this was no exception
to the rule
. As
the last
few
of
struggling
soldiers
came running back
to him
with
their
fear
indelibly
etched
o
nto
their faces
,
he gathered
the last of them
toge
ther at the entrance to the palace
.

There was no
need to ask them what had
transpired. He could
see the beasts
in the distance
for himself
.
One l
ook at his new
foes
as they made their way towards them
,
told
Pizarro
that
this
was no
t the
place or the
time to
make a
stand and
fight
. A
nother look
back
at the palace
gates made
it
abundantly
clear
that
those
wooden
barrier
s
could never hold back the
deluge of dead flesh. In
fact
,
Pizarro
suspected
they were
never
designed to stave off an
y
sort of
attack
and why would they?
The city’s designers could
never have guessed that anyone w
ould
ever
get so close.
Standing
by
his side
as usual
was
Almargo.
He and
Pizarro
shared a look without needing
to say a word
.
T
hey
both knew they had
to come up with something quick.

B
ut b
efore they could
even
begin to formulate
a
plan
,
Minco returned with
only
a
few
dozen of his men. “Get the
King
out
of
t
here
,
now!” he shouted to
his soldiers as he came to a halt
before the
two
Spaniards.
His
loyal
men
obeyed their orders and
raced
by them
,
on
towards the
stone
steps of the palace.

As they approached
,
t
he
few
remaining
Spanish soldiers
formed a
tight
defensive
line
in
front of the doors
.
Almost as one,
they
raised up their muskets
causing
the Incans
to
stop
dead
in their tracks.
They
faced each other
impassively,
but urgently, both sides aware
that a far greater enemy would soon be upon them.

“
Hurry,
we need to get moving,” Inguill
said as she
appeared
at the base of the
steep
steps
with
two
of her
own
priestesses.
She walked
directly
between both sets of warriors and shouted
at them
.
“
Do we not
have
enough problems without us
kill
ing each other,
”
she said sternly. Then she turned and directly addressed
Minco and
Pizarro
, who both looked like startled little boys
getting a dressing down from their mother
. “W
e only have
a few
minutes before
we are overrun
.”
Inguill’s flickering gaze indicated the sound of the
approach
ing horde
s
.

Minco
was the first
one
to act. H
e
lowered his axe,
came
forward and stood
face to face with
Pizarro
.

“
She’s right. W
e need to get the
King
out and
over
to the pyramid before
it’s
too late,” he said. “
Please,
if you value your life and the lives of your men, r
elease him
now
in
to
our
custody
.
I give you my
solemn
word that if we
somehow
manage to
survive this battle with the
army of the
Ukhu Pacha
,
you
’l
l be
free to leave
these lands
with
your fill of our gold
on your ships
.”

Pizarro
looked
at Minco
and shook his head. “No
t a
chance
in hell
,
my friend
.
He is
the only thing
I have
left
to bargain with. I
f I give him to you
now
, you’ll have us all killed in a heartbeat. I saw it in your eyes, Minco.
”

“
I
f he dies
,
you
must
also
know
that
you
’
ve no chance of escape,
not from the beasts or my men,
” Minco
said,
losing his patience
with the Spaniard
. “
T
hink about what I’m
asking
you
. Will your own
men give their lives to protect him?
I think not
...my
men will
do so and
gladly
.
If that small thing means survival for my king, I will see it done.
As I said
,
you have my word.”

Pizarro
cursed under his breath. H
e could see
the logic in Minco’s argument
.
He also
knew he
would have
more than
enough to deal
with,
without
also
having to babysit
a foreign
King
.
R
eluctantly
,
he
nodded
to Minco
and
then said
to Almargo. “
Let them take their King. Bring
him out here.”

His man glared
wordlessly, motionlessly
back at him.
Pizarro
had never seen this reaction in all the years they
had
served together
and now was not the time to let them start wondering
.
“
Do
it
,” he
roared
.
Without replying
,
Almargo
snarled something under his breath,
turned and went into the palace.
Pizarro
’s heart dropped
again
.
H
e needed his friend
now
more than ever and this disastrous mission was driving them apart.

Pizarro
needed to let out
t
his anger,
and he found some relief as
he
prodded his finger
deep i
nto Minco’s chest. “Just m
ake sure
that
you
do
keep your word
Incan
. If I
even
suspect
you’re up to some
thing
,
I’ll kill you and your damn King. Now that is
my
promise
.”

T
he entourage
soon emerged from
inside
the palace and down the steps towards them.
Minco went
over
to his King
, w
ith
his
brother
now
accompanying
him;
Minco
was briefly reminded
of his own brother. Momentary worry overrode all rational thought but he chased it away. His
brother
was a good warrior. He had to believe he was
still
safe. He could afford no other thoughts at this time. The king’s brother
,
even with the horror behind them
,
took
a moment
to
explain
the situation
to him
. The King
glanced down the street
,
and
then
, almost in resignation,
placed a hand on his
favourite
soldier
’
s shoulder and nodded
.