Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (17 page)

“
L
et’s
go.
We
need to get moving,”
Minco
said as he
motioned
the King
towards the
tall
pyramid
behind them
. “
We have to get o
ver there
now
. I
t’s our only chance.”

Before they moved
off
, Minco
spoke
softly
to a group of about twenty of his own men.
Pizarro
could no
t underst
and the Incan language
,
but
judging
by the
stricken
look
s
on
their faces as they made a line across the street
,
he had
a
n
idea what had been
said. They had been ordered to
stay
at the palace
and
to
protect the Kings
retreat. T
hey were
told
not
to
let anythin
g pass
, no matter what
that cost
.
T
hey
also
knew
that
they
had just
been
given a
certain
death sentence.
Minco gave
Pizarro
a satisfied look
,
the Spaniard
knew that this had proven the Incans earlier statement about
what
h
is men were prepared to do. It
was
also
an unspoken- and
an unnecessary
-
warning.

With
speed
,
the
uneasy
mix of Incans and Spaniards made their way to the
long
stone
bridge that led over a
deep
and
dry
moat to the
pyramid. T
ogether, t
hey numbered close to
a hundred
soldiers
,
but
it was still
far too few
even
to
think about
retaliation
. For now
, the little group
had no option but to hide
and regroup
.

“We need to pull
the bridge
in
,”
Minco
shouted,
as they were only a little
way across
. He no longer needed to tell them
to hurry, the
dreadful
screaming from
behind
told them that the
line of defence they
had
left
back
at the palace had
already
been
breached
. Glancing over their shoulders, both Minco and
Pizarro
could see
a dozen of
the
undead army were
through and
already
in
hot
pursuit.
O
nly
a few
seconds behind
them
were hundreds
more
.

“Spaniard!” Minco
shouted
. “Get your men
over there,
on
to
th
os
e
pulleys!
”
He indicated to a
heavy mechanism
that was
located
at the
far
end
of the long bridge. “We’ll buy
you some time.”

Minco
shouted
his next command to
his
men
and half of the remaining Incans
slowly stopped
at the mid
way point
of the bridge
to
form a
nother
defensive
line. The
rest of the survivors continued
to the
very
end
of the bridge
.
On arriving
,
Pizarro
set his men to
work on
the heavy wheels
,
pull
ing and tugging
with all their might
until
at last, they began
to move. Creaks and groans echoed
all
around
them
as the
stone
bridge started to divide
almost directly
in the middle. The section closest to the pyramid was being withdrawn
inside the
main
structure
of the building
and a gap was
slowly
beginning to
form.

Minco and his men
stood
in formation
on the other side
,
awaiting the arrival of
the undead
.
Pizarro
could only
watch,
as his hopes of
getting his
fortune seemed to disappear
along with the bridge
.

The first
, smaller
wave of undead
monsters
got to the bridge and charged ful
l pelt at Minco and his men. This time, h
owever
,
the
line
had no
choice;
it
would
have to
hold
.

“Go for the head,”
Minco shouted
,
so to be heard above the screaming
. “Kill the head, kill the body.” He had seen
and learned
enough
to know that
this was the only thing that
could stop
the soldiers
of Supay
.

As the first
monster approached
,
Minco
stepped
forward and with his
trusty
axe
,
showed his men
exactly
what was needed. In one downward swoop
,
he split
t
he head of the first of
his attackers, the bronze blade
sliding
from the top of its skull
right
down to its chin
as if
going
through butter
. A
swift
kick to its
bloody
chest set it free from the axe and flying backwards
onto the dusty stones
. His men yelled
out at his victory and
they too stepped forward
,
now
ready
to engage
with
the beasts. Axes and blades
for once
outnumbered
the teeth
and hands
and
in
less than
a minute
,
all the undead were vanquished
,
along with
the loss of
less than
a handful of the Incan guards. Minco looked
back
over
at the
slowly
widening gap of the bridge and
cursed,
it was still to
o
close;
the
approaching
undead army would be able to throw themselves over
the gap.
Minco knew they
still
had to defend the line
just
a little bit longer.

When he turned
back
to face the opposing army again, he i
nstinctively took a
little
step back
wards
at the sight that he came across
.
T
he main group of Supay
’s army
were
now
coming
over the horizon and
had begu
n
flood
ing
onto the
wide
bridge. Scores of th
e walking dead surged towards him
and
the remnants of
his men.
They groaned and gargled in
some kind of devilish
delight at seeing this seemingly trapped group of
fresh
new
victims.

“For our
King
and for Cuzco
!” Minco
shouted
a
s he walked among his
trembl
ing
soldiers
. “
Today
,
we may
well
die,
but we
’ll
give our liv
e
s
gladly to protect our future.” He raised his arm a
nd bellow
ed
out
the Incan battle cry. His men could barely muster one of their own.

Dead flesh swamped
and washed over the thin line.
The protectors of the King
fought
bravely,
but they had no
hope;
no
t even the slightest
chance of success.
Minco’s
men were being devoured
around him
and he knew
that
no matter what
t
he
y
tried
,
he
too
would soon be joining them.

“Minco…Minco!
”
he
could
hear
Inguill
call
ing
out
behind him
. “Jump
for it
! N
ow
!”

Turning
,
he saw
that
the gap
in the bridge
was
now large
enough;
in
fact,
it looked
almost too far.
He l
aunched himself
through the air
towards
the dist
ant ledge. By the grace of the g
ods
,
he
managed to
grab it with both
hands as he
swung in the air. A few
of his
remaining men
saw his attempt to escape and
tried the same. M
ost missed their target and fell to their deaths
below
,
but two
others wer
e lucky enough to survive
and
they
too
swung beside their leader
.

As Minco
began to pull himself up
,
o
ne of the
men to
his
left
suddenly
screamed out in
agonising
pain.
One of the undead beasts had followed his flight to safety
. It c
lung onto his back, arms twisting
around his neck as its teeth tore
deep
into his scalp
. C
hunks of
flesh tore away in strips
until the white of his skull could be seen
. He loosened his grip, and
with
o
ne last long scream
of terror and pain
, this
heralded
the
man
and the
beast’s
fall
.

Just as Minco started to pull himself up
,
another of the monsters flung itself at him. It did
n
o
t reach his back but
it
managed to lock one,
bony hand
on h
is ankle. T
he weight pulled
Minco
back down
to being fully stretched
out
. He glanced down
at the foul beast
and
saw
that
it
had been
a recently turned soldier of his
own;
he even recognised its mutilated face
. H
e
watched as it pull
ed
itself
up
closer
.
Disgusted, h
e kicked at the undead man
with his free foot
,
but his
tired
attempts
were not
enough to break
free of
its
hunger driven
grip.
Finally, the combined weight became
too much for Minco
’s fingers
to hold
. His grip slipped
from the ledge
and he fell towards the void
.