Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (19 page)

He turned back to Minco and Inguill with
a
resigned determination.
“I’m prepared to
try my best
as
well,
but
would one of you
please tell me
,
how
in
hell
are we to get out of
this
city
?
”

Almost in one, all three
looked out at the carnage
that was
still
being played out
below
. No one
could
answer the Spaniard
.

12
-
The
Escape
from Cuzco

“Well, let’s
at least
try
to get
over
to the horses,”
Pizarro
said
,
rack
ing
his brain
for
any
ideas
.
“
They are fast, even through your
thick jungle roads.
I’m sure w
e could
get to
this other
city a
hel
l of a
lot quicker
than on foot
.”

Minco’s face was grim.
“
Ha
ve a
look out of that window,”
he
said
, gesturing
to his left. “I
’m afraid i
t’s
a little
too
late for your
horses.”

Pizarro
peered out and down and
was swearing as he
saw the remains of the horses being dragged towards the bridge
itself
. They were
no longer the
dazzling
, brilliant
white
that had given him such pride. A
ll t
hat was left
of them
now
was
a
bright red. Their lifeless bodies
were
being pull
ed to the front as
either
a
food
source
or
even
some sort of reward
for the first line of undead soldier
s.
Pizarro
watched as handful
s of
pink
flesh were ripped from those once beautiful animals and shoved into
a procession of hungry mouths.
It was like
some sort of
unholy
line of communion.

With a
disgusted
grunt,
Pizarro
stormed away from the window.
“
S
o much for that idea
,”
he thought
.

“
How
ever we decide
to get out of here,
it needs to be done
soon.
Surely,
I don’t have to tell you
there
’
s no time to waste.
” Inguill
had
already
moved to
the middle of the room
to
check
on the condition of the k
ing
and the other members of the royal court
.
Upon hearing
Pizarro
stir,
she spoke
up
.
“
We
must get
to Huacas
and finish this
before th
e whole country has been turned
,
or there’ll be nothing
and no one
left to save.
”

Minco was still looking out of the window. “
It’s clear
to us all
that w
e cannot
get out through the city.”
The
street
s below were
filled
to overflowing
with the
undead;
they were
searching every building in
the
futile
hope that something living
was
still hiding away inside. He guessed
their numbers
must
have
grown
close to ten thousand
by
now
. “So t
hat leaves
us
the
cliffs;
it is our only means of escape
.”

Pizarro
looked up at the rocky cliffs
that
surrounded the city
on three sides
. T
hey were
all
well
over
two
hundred feet high and
vertical
. They looked
to be
impassable
.
He could not help but laugh
at the very idea of climbing them
.
He,
however,
did not like the fact that his laugh sounded like hysteria.
“
W
e’d never make it
all the way
up there.”

“There is a
way;
we
don’t have to go all the way up.
T
here
’s a
passageway that
was
cut into the rocks many years ago,” Minco said
, glancing
at Inguill
.
“
O
nly a few people
are aware of it. O
ur ancestors
built
it
as an escape path
for the k
ing
in the event of
...well...catastrophe
. Looks like this
is
it.
We only
have to
get up
to
there,
to that first level.” His finger
pointed to a small rocky outcrop
to the right side of the pyramid
about thirty feet up. “Once
we’re
there
,
we can operate a secret doorway and then it’s a passage all the way to the jungle.”

“...And
who shall be going on this little trip?”
Pizarro
said
, his voice still not conveying much confidence in
the
ir
chances of success.
He
could
already
guess
whom
the Incan was going to name
.

“You and I will b
e
go
ing
,
Spaniard,” Minco replied. “We’ll take half the
men
with us
and leave the rest here to protect
the King
, just in case
the beasts
somehow
manage to
find a way
through
. He needs to stay
in
here,
for
t
he trip will be
far
too dangerous for him
.”

“I’ll be coming
with you
too,” said Inguill
,
as she moved forward
, once again directly
between the two men
. “You may need my knowledge of the
scriptures;
my
memories,
in case we
need
to change the plan.”

Minco
thought to protest but
realised
that
he
had no
reasonable
argument to make her stay. Also, t
he
y
did
need her
knowledge
. After a
moment, Minco just
nodded and smiled
his acknowledgement
.

As the Protector and the High Priest
ess
explained the plan to the
k
ing
, the monarch said
something in Incan
and
motioned
his
sheepish looking
brother
to
step forward.
Hesitantly, the prince came over to stand beside
Pizarro
and Inguill.
It seemed
t
he
King had decided
that one of the royal
s
should
join the quest.

Pizarro
,
however
,
took his time in answering
him
. H
e
thought long and hard about just staying
right
here
at the pyramid
and letting Minco take all
of
the ris
k.
However,
he
soon
realised that if this
half-cocked
plan
to destroy the statue
failed
,
h
e
woul
d be stuck inside this
stone
prison
until he starved to
death,
a
nd that
wa
s not what he
had co
me
all this way
to do
.

“Very well,” he said
, stealing
another quick glance down at his
still
surrounded
gold
. “
I’ll go
along
with you
.
Let’s get this done
.”

*****

Twenty-five
Spaniards and
just
eight Incans
stood
waiting
by the side entran
ce of the pyramid. The remainder of the
survivors
stayed in
side
the central
chamber
,
along with the King
and
the last
two priestesses
.

“Once we’re inside the passage
,
we must destroy the doorway
behind us
,
” Minco
informed
Pizarro
and Almargo
. “We can’t let the undead
get
back down
here
from the jungle. They’d be able to drop
right
down onto the pyramid
and whoever is inside will perish
.
W
hatever happens
,
you need to know
this is going to
be a one way trip.”

This plan
was sounding
worse
by the second to
Pizarro
. “
Fine, l
et’s get moving.” H
e
was
n
o
t interested in
hearing
any more bad news
.

Minco
nodded and
led the
silent
procession out of the doorway, across the dusty
old
courtyard and over to the cliff wall. This
view
triggered a violent, excited din from the
hordes of undead
on the other side
of the void
. T
he
sight,
and no doubt
smell,
of
so much
fresh meat sent
them into
frenzy
.
The screams
they produced
seemed higher
pitched
than
they had
ever heard
b
efore.

One by one
,
the men grabbed
hold of
the rock and climbed. H
and and foot holds were few and far between and the progress
up the cliff
was slow
and dangerous
.
However,
t
hey only had about thirty feet
to scale and
even with the
se
difficulties
presented,
Minco was soon standing
up
on the
small
ledge. He found
six small holes
hidden in the rock face. They were
just big enough for three fingers on each hand to fit inside. As
Pizarro
and the rest of the soldiers began to join him
on the ledge
, Minco
pushed his fingers in hard and twisted both
of
his hands clockwise.