Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (22 page)

“I know
that
,” he said
as
a
deep
sadness reverberated
in his voice
. “But t
here is
one
last
thing
that
I can do for him.” He held his
golden
axe
slightly
aloft, illustrating his intentions
. “I’ll finish him
off
for good
...here
and now
, he shall be set free from this curse
.”
Inguill gave him a smile and a gentle nod.

Silently
, Minco
made his way
across the square
to
his
little
brother from behind, inching
ever
closer and close
r. A
s he got to within ten feet
of his target
, the cre
ature that was once his brother
somehow sensed his arrival and
slowly
turned
around
to fac
e him. Minco looked at his face. It had
once
been
a mirror image of
his own face
when he
was
younger
. N
ow
it was
all torn, ripped
along one side
and stained with blood. Looking
deep
into his
brother’s
eyes
,
all
Minco could see now was a dream.
Wi
spy grey clouds
floated across his irises where
the deep hazel of
Ayar’s eyes had been
before.

As his brother wheezed and rolled
rigidly
forward
,
Minco bared
his teeth
and
raised his axe
high
above his head.

“Sorry,” was all he
could say
as the bronze blade swooped down and sliced half of his
charging
brother’s skull clean off. This blow sent
the creature
spinning through the air
, only to land lifeless
at his feet
.

Minco dropped to his
knees.
H
e
closed his eyes and
pray
ed
silently
to
the g
ods
. He begg
ed
them
to
see it in their hearts to
look out for his
little
brother in the afterlife.
He hoped that somehow
,
his soul could
still
be saved
from the underworld
.
It was then that
Inguill’s screams snapped
him
back
to the present
.

She was pointing
over
to
wards the Tambos. Alerted by
Ayar’s
calls
for
fresh
blood,
d
ozens of the undead
, mostly soldiers from the city,
were p
ouring out from its doors and
splitting into two
distinctly
separate
groups. The
larger
group
ing
was
heading towards
Minco but a few
of them
were going
straight
over
for Inguill. Immediately, h
e saw that t
here was no way
he could possibly
reach
his love
in time
.
His heart dropped
a beat
-
h
e
had done it again.
He should have been
there
protect
ing
her and
now
he was failing.

The first of the undead reached him, a young
slim
gir
l. N
o doubt
,
she
once
worked in the Tambos according to
her dress. His
new
anger made light work of her
feeble
attempt to grab him
. O
ne swipe
of
his
faithful
axe
removed her head.
A
s her body fell away
, Minco
saw what was
behind her. T
he approaching horde of the undead now
numbered
well
over twenty. E
ven with his
fine
fighting
skill
s
,
he would never
be able to survive
that
size of
an
attack
. Glancing
t
o his left
, Minco saw
that
the other
half dozen
of the monsters
were almost at Inguill as well.
She seemed rooted to the spot.

“Run!” he screamed
at her
. “G
et
out of here
now
! G
et
back
to the others!
I’ll meet you there!”

She blew him
a kiss
and ran back down the main road
and
to
wards
the gate
s of the town. He
could only hope
that
with the
good
head start
that
she had
and the
open road
in front of her
,
she would be safe.
After
all,
hope was about all he had left.

Minco
,
however
,
had a
far
bigger
problem
to face
;
his
escape route
out of the city
had
now
been
cut off. After glancing around
,
looking
for options
,
he
dart
ed
for the nearest house. He decided
he would try
for the
rooftops.
His
speed and
ab
ility
to keep ahead
would be his best defence
, and his only
chance
to get away
.
He shoulder charged
,
burst
ing
straight
through the doorway
,
before
slid
ing
uncontrollably
across the floor
for several feet.
Looking down
at the floor
,
Minco
saw
that
it was
completely
covered in a thick coating of the innards of
much more than
just
a single
person. He had
just
slid along on the guts of a
recently
slaughtered famil
y.
This
realisation, along with
the
horrendous
stench
of death
filled his nostrils
and
made
him gag.

He raced
up the stairs
, trying
his best
not to think of what had happened in this home,
closing down his imagination before
he
could hear
the screams
of fear
and pain
that this
family would have faced
. Another kick to a door and he was out on the white
,
tiled roof terrace
. A
ll around
him was
the exact same
sight;
a
vast
sea of
the same
white
rooftops
.
From
here,
t
he walls on
the outskirt
s
of
the town seemed
so
far
away.
Yet
the monsters coming up
the stairs
behind him seemed so
very
, very
close.

He backed
himself up
as far away
from the edge as he could before bursting into a sprint. Out of the corner of his eye
, Minco
s
aw the first of the undead spill out of
the
broken
doorway. With
every
ounce
of his energy
,
he leaped for
the roof across the street.

As he landed, Minco rolled forward and
glanced back to see
that
a
stream of
undead
was
also
following his leap. Most
of them
did
n
o
t make it
across
and fell
down
to the street and
thankfully
out of view.
However,
a few
of them
were still in good enough
condition to make the distance. Those
landed near Minco and
a few
more were clinging onto the ledge.

Minco did
n
o
t
wait
to get a look at how the rest were faring
;
as soon as he was back up on his feet
,
he was racing to the opposite edge and
launching himself
again
to the next roof. Over and over again
,
he leapt and
leapt
from house to house
. E
ach
time,
the undead were in hot pursuit.
As he flew
through the air
,
he could see
there was also
a horde of the undead flooding along the stone street
s below
,
following his
escape
route.

When h
e
reached a rooftop only two away from the high wall, Minco
reali
sed that the undead
were still keeping up with him, both from behind and
from
below. It was at this point that
it became clear the
outside wall was
going to be
far
too high for him to reach with
just
a jump from a rooftop
. T
he streets
below
were
also far
too busy to be an option
. He needed
a
change
in
his
plan
, and he needed to come up with it
now
.

Grinding to a
dramatic
halt,
as he landed
in the middle of his next rooftop
,
he
walked along
the edge
, removing
the axe from
the loop at
his waist and waited. It did
n
o
t take long for four of the beasts to join him. He looked behind
him
and
saw that no more were following.
There was
a chance, no matter how small
, and he was prepared to take it with both hands
.