Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (23 page)

The first of the undea
d soldiers ran straight for him
,
arms outstretched
. A
deep
rage
was
set deep
in its eyes. Its lack of control made it an easy tar
get. W
ith a
little
side step
, Minco let the charging creature pass
. The first swipe of his
trusty
axe
, he
severed its sp
inal column. A
s it staggered
,
then
stumbled
,
to fall
face down on the tiled roof
,
Minco sent a second blow
deep in
to
the back of its skull.

The other three
had seen the first fall and
seemed to approach
a bit more
carefully. T
hey growled and groaned as they circled
in a pack around
their target.
Minco removed his truncheon from his back, a
two-foot
long stick with small
but sharp
ened
golden spikes at
tached all along
the end. He knew that more of the beasts would soon
be
head
ing
up the stairs so
he
did what he had to do. He
took the fight to
them.
He
attacked
the undead
.

His years of training
were
,
once again
,
too much for the
soldiers of Supay
to handle
. Both his weapons swung and swiped
away
at the three beasts,
all
three
of whom were
dead
citizens of Tarapoto. Thuds and crunches
of metal on
bone
exploded in
the warm
mid-morning
air and
he
quickly
sent
his
pursuers
back to
where they belonged, back to
hell.
Once again
, Minco
was alone on the
rooftop.

Screams
reverberated
from
the stairwell. T
he undead from
the streets were
now
making their way up
to
the roof. He
needed to make his move
. Minco
checked
on
his surroundings and
the streets below
once
again
. He
knew he
would
only
h
a
ve
one chance to make
t
his
new
plan work
.
Standing
up
high
on
the
raised stone
edge of the roof
,
he waited until the rooftop was full
to overflowing
of
the
undead beasts. He waved his weapons wildly around
about, hoping
to keep them away
until he was ready
.
They paced around
him
, stalking
, as they waited
for the chance to strike.

When there was no room left on the roof
, Minco leapt off
backward
s. He dropped the two floors like a stone
,
but
he
landed
strategically i
n
to
a cart full of wheat
, effectively breaking
his fall.
As soon as he w
as down
,
he spun off the cart
and got moving
. A
massive wat
erfall of dead flesh flow
ed off the rooftop
straight
after Minco but they were
n
o
t
nearly
quick enough. H
e was
already
off and running
down the street
towards the gates
.

Two of Supay
’
s soldiers had stayed
down
on the roadway
and they
stood ahead
of him
now,
block
ing Minco’s
escape path
.
He
knew
there was no
time to
take a
stand and
fight
them. T
he beasts behind him were untangling themselves from each other
and would
shortly
become a threat once more
.

With a
wild
roar
,
Minco
shoulder
charge
d the soldiers in front of him, sending
o
ne
of them
flying
up
against a wall
. A
swipe of his truncheon
to the chest of
the other sent
it sprawling on i
ts backside. Neither
of the strikes
was a kill shot and
in
only a few
seconds
, they
were back up on their feet
and
along with the
rest of them,
right behind Minco
an
d
in hot pursuit.

The Protector
had no time to ease his way through the carrion riddled streets. He jumped and skipped over
piles of
bones, slid
ing along
on
rivers of
blood and
gore,
once
even ensnaring
hi
s
foot in a tangle of
intestines. He
s
tumbled
and
nearly
fell, just managing to grab
hold of
a doorway
to steady himself
. It took
him
a few seconds to
cu
t away the
slick trap
around
his ankle.

No matter how quick he was
,
t
he task took
too
long;
the charging beasts were only
yards
away by the time he got moving again. Once he was through the gates
,
things got eve
n worse.
O
n the road ahead
,
score
s of the
undead spotted him and began
racing towards him. The
full force of
the
undead
army sent from
Cuzco
into the jungle
had reached the city
walls
. He had no other
option;
he turned and ran
deep
into the
thick
jungle,
using nature for cover as he fled
.

Minco ran
for over an hour
and still, he could not shake
off
his pursuers
.
There
were
far too many of them
and they were all over the jungle like flies on a corpse
.
He
was moving
far
too slow
ly
through the thick foliage
and
he knew the creatures were following
onto
his scent.
Finally
,
Minco
resigned himself to the fact that
he was
n
o
t going to get away
from them
.

As
he reached
a small
, grassy
clearing
,
he decided
that
this was where he would make his final stand
.
He knew this place
well
. He’d been born just a short walk away in a small and simple farming village.
He
had
spent his childhood in this very spot, marching along the length of it a
s he imagined he was a
loyal
soldier
of the King
. He and his brother
,
for as long as he could remember
,
had dreamed of fighting
the enemies of the empire.
He bared his teeth in a parody of a smile. They had
sure
gotten their wish, hadn’t
they?

Dropping down to one knee
, Minco
prepared
himself
for one more battle
.
As he readied his
trusty
weapons around him, his thoughts
were of his
brother, and
of
what he had become.
The time for play
had long since
passed
.

He would not keep losing men and ground to these beasts
.

Enough was enough.

14-
A
lone in the Jungle

N
ot
once did Inguill
have to
look behind her as she ran
for
her
life
down the
blood soaked
street
s. There was no
need
to check if they were still
there,
s
he could
clearly
hear them
coming
.

Tears rolled down her
beautiful
,
olive
-toned
face
as she thought of Minco
.
She had seen
tho
se
hungry
beasts on his t
ail.
S
he could see t
he gates ahead and the chance to
e
scape, but
still
,
she
cried
in fear
for her love.

As the
open
gates grew
closer and closer
, Inguill
saw
a
handful of the undead soldiers
in the distance,
coming down the main roadway
from the
direction of the
crossroads.
T
hey saw her too
,
she knew
that only too well
, for
they burst into a run at the sight of
some
fresh meat
.
She would never make it back to the others that way. S
he would have to get into the jungle and try
to
work
her way
around them.

It was hard going, a
s she pushed
herself
forward
through the thick
foliage, Inguill quickly
realised that sh
e knew nothing of the jungle or
anything about
how
to
navigate through it
s dense mass. S
he was a city girl
,
both
born and raised. All she could do was run
blindly through and never stop until
she lost the
pack of
beast
s
on her tail. A
t least
then,
she would have
a moment to formulate
some sort of
plan.

She kept going
for nearly an hour before
a
t
last;
the only sounds she
could
hear were
that of
her own laboured breathing. Perhaps now the undead
were far enough away
that she might
have a chance to
slow down
for a
little
while
.
S
he bent over
,
struggling
to catch her breath
, and as she did,
it dawned on her that she
had absolutely no idea
where she
now
was.
S
he looked up to the sun, s
quinting
at its brightness
. S
he had heard
many
stories
of
how
the
trackers and hunters used
its path
and height
in the sky
to find direction
, b
ut she was
definitely
neither
of tho
se.
She sighed softly and decided it was better to move than
to
be stationary, w
h
ether she was lost or not.

Hours passed a
s she walked
aimlessly
through the trees
. S
he had no idea where it would lead her.
She could be
walking in circles or
perhaps
even heading straight
back
towards the
arms of the
soldiers of
Ukhu Pacha. She t
hought of
finding somewhere to
hide,
but
even the
slim
chance
that she could help def
eat the horde pushed her
forward. On and
on
, she mov
ed
through the
heavy foliage,
cursing
herself for forcin
g Minco to take her
on his mission
to Tarapoto. I
f she had stayed
with
Pizarro
and the others or
back
at the pyramid
with the king
,
then she would not have
jeopardised
the success of the mission.
Now she could only
pray that her skills would not be needed at the altar of Supay.

The sound of
movement ahead
froze her in place and
she
held her breath
when
s
he saw the bra
n
ches
in front of her
bristle
. S
omething
was
headed
right
for
her.
There was
no time to run, no time even
to
turn
away
.
Suddenly the branch moved away and Inguill
found herself standing
in front o
f a man
.

They both stared
motionless and
uncomprehending for a moment as each person tried to come to terms with the other. He was no monster- Inguill could see by his attire and his strong, tall build that this man was a hunter. He would know this jungle well. This man could help her
.

“What in the God’s name are you doi
ng out here,” the young man breathed
,
sounding
as surprised as Inguill that he had not come across on
e
of the undead
. “You
should be hiding
somewhere
.
” His eyes
moved away from her and
scanned the jungle
behind
. “
Are you mad? H
ave you not seen
all
the
corpses
walking around?”

A
little
smi
le
of relief blossomed
to Inguill’s
lovely
face
.

“
I can
’
t hide,” she sai
d as she
closed the gap between them. The hunter
instinctively
lowered his axe
to his side.
“I need to find my friends,
” Inguill continued. “W
e we
re on a mission to destroy
the connection between Ukhu Pacha and Hanan Pacha. We believe that will end this horror.”
She
gently
bowed her head
as was customary, showing him that
she was pleading for his assistance
. “My name is
Inguill-
t
he High Priestess of Cuzco.
Please,
I need you to help me find them. T
hey are
somewhere
on the road to Huacas.”

T
he hunter
scanned the woman from head to toe
, taking in her
fancy
,
golden
attire and wondering
how true this tale might be
. He had
only
been to Cuzco a few times to trade his goods but
he
had never seen her
there
, not that he ever got that close to the temples
, so it was not
too much of
a surprise
that
he did not recognise her
.
He
’d never been one for praying to the
Gods.
He
preferred to trust in
the reality of
what he could see or feel.
Of course, now he could see the dead walking his lands, so questioning the god’s existence was no longer feasible.

Whatever had happened, the hunter’s
sharp instincts
were seldom wrong and
they
now told
him that she was telling the truth. Now all he had to
do
was
to
decide whether
to
risk his life
helping her
or stay
here
in the jungle as far from danger as possible.

“Well, my lady,” he spoke
to her
softly. “What is this great mission? Please
,
can you
tell me how you
are
going to
destroy them?”

Inguill spent the next few minutes retelling
about
the massacre at Cuzco
and
about
how their small group
had set off
for the City of the Snake to destroy the statue
of Supay
. She explained how he was using his powers to
raise and
control the undead
and
how breaking the
golden
effigy
would
retur
n their citizens to the
peace of the
grave. After a little
sigh,
s
he also told him
about
what happened to
her
Minco, and how h
e might still be trapped back in
the city of
Tarapoto.

“That’s a fine story,” he muttered
,
his eyes
continually
darting around
, forever checking their surroundings
. He was
still
worried she had brought some
of the
beasts along with her
into the jungle,
his
jungle. “Let me start off by saying there is no chance
of me taking
you
anywhere
near
Tarapoto.
” Inguill
n
oticed his grip slowly tightening
around
his axe
as he spoke
. “
I’ve seen
for myself
how many
of those monsters
are still
lurking
there
.
If
he s
omehow
manage
d
to survive, then
he
’
ll have to look after himself.”

She wanted
to argue
with
him,
but
she would take what she could get. Any help he could offer
would be better than none.
She
had faith in
her
Minco. I
f
there
were
anyone
in this world who
could survive that city
,
it would be
him. She
still
had
the feeling she would be see
ing
him soon
and that felt like a promise
, a gift
from the gods
.

“
So y
ou’ll come with
me
to find my friends
instead
?”
A wide smile
was spreading across
her face. Inguill saw in his eyes
that he had already agreed
in his mind
.

He
nodded
reluctantly
.
His instincts
, his head
told
him to run but his heart wanted
him
to help this woman
and her cause
. “
I’ll help
, but let me tell you this
, Priestess
.
Once we find your friends
, we’ll part
our
ways.
”
He jerked his chin to the
left
, a wordless beckoning
. “
I
’ll get
us
on the road to
Huacas.
We’ll
find
them,
but
then I’ll
return to this place,
back
to where I belong
.” His eyes
were showing
more fear by the minute. “No matter what you say, y
ou
will
never
convince
me
to enter that city
,
never
.”