Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (20 page)

Rumbling noises started
echoing around
them, quickly followed by a
loud
grinding and crunching as a small section of the cliff began to slip
down i
nto the
ledge,
until a
dark
, looming
gap
that was just
wide
enough
for a single man
to enter appeared
before them
. After lighting their torches
,
the
new
saviours of Cuzco
enter
ed
the pitch black
and
foreboding
passage,
one by one and
slowly
made their way
down the gently sloping path.

Minco was the last to enter
the dark crevice
. As he prepared to put his fingers back in those holes
,
he heard that
high-pitched
scream
ing again
.
Instinctively
,
he put his hands over his ears,
trying to block
out
the devilish
sound;
this new call was hurting his head.

Head
ing down to
ward
the city
, Minco saw Taipi ag
ain.
The High Priest
had been
the one making this
noise
. Minco watched
closely
as the leader of the undead stood
a
top of a house roof and with tho
se sounds
, somehow ordered
a large section of his army out of the streets and into the jungle. Minco knew only too
well,
where he had sent
them;
it seemed that they would soon have some company
on their tail
.
Even
now
,
in death
,
Taipi must have remembered the escape route
and
was now attempting to
send his troops to
block it.

They had to hurry.
Minco placed
his fingers
back
in the holes again and turned them
back
in
the
opposite direction. As the rumbling began
once more
,
Minco
darted
in through
the opening just before the
huge slab came crashing
back
down to block of
f
the entrance. He
ran
in
to
the
eerie
darkness
until he caught up with the others.

Taipi stopped his screaming when he saw the doorway disappear
in a cloud of dust
.
His head tilted
backwards
as
though he were
being called from beyond.
After another
blood-curdling
scream, Taipi
made his way back down the stairway and headed for the city gates
himself
. As he passed his
bowing
troops
,
he
made
a few
guttural grunting sounds. Soon, over a
hundred
of Ukhu Pacha
soldiers
followed him down the street. Upon
leaving the city
,
they didn’t head into the jungle after the others
. Instead
, they kept to the road.

Huacas was their destination.

*****

“We need to move
,” Minco shouted as he pushed by the others to the
get to the
fro
nt of the line. “They’re coming!
”

After five minutes of running in the dark
and
expecting the worst
,
they came to a dead end. O
nce more
,
solid rock stood in their way.
Minco threw
a
wooden
lever
to the side
and a wall slowly ground open,
parting to reveal the
once again
welcome brightness of sunlight. It
flooded into the passageway
,
blinding the soldiers for a second
or two.
They blinked rapidly to allow their eyes to readjust.

With
their
a
xes and swords
at the ready
,
they
inched their way outside and found themselves standing by a small waterfall.
Pizarro
gazed at its
splendid
beauty for a moment before the sounds around
him, sounds of something approaching,
snapped him back
to reality
.

They could
all
hear them coming. The screams, grunts and groans of the undead were echoing
all
around
them
but
their point of origin
seemed to
emanate
away
to their left.
“Go,” Minco said quietly, urgently
,
and then began running again-
not in the oppo
site direction of the beasts,
however,
he went
straight ahead.

“Are you
damn
sure this is the
right
way to go?”
Pizarro
asked as he listened to the
sound
s
of hell
grow
ing
around him.
No doubt just l
ike the others
,
he had a strong urge
to run the other way.

“Yes, w
e need to get to the road as quickly as we can
,” Minco said
, quickening his
pace. “If we stay in
side
the jungle
,
we’ll be
far
too slow.
Trust me
, this is our only chance
.
”

The
y
did their best to match Minco’s quick pace, and when they did, he went even faster, urging them on as best he could
. Their sword
s and axes cut a swath
through the thick jungle.
Fear filled their souls as they hear
d
the hordes around them but
they could
still
not see more than a few feet ahead.
Then
it happened-
the first
of their
screams rang out. T
hey had been found.
Two Spaniards at the rear were grabbed
and
pulled away
and
into the foliage. It was t
heir
frantic calls
for help
that
were
now filling the air
as hungry mouths tore
into their flesh.

Almargo slow
ed his run and glanc
ed back
ward
in time to see his men
disappear. H
e
l
ooked
ahead
at
Pizarro
who was still racing onwards
.
He had no care for his
fallen
men
. The old soldier
thought of going to their aid until the
sight of a dozen
more
of the undead spilling out from the jungle
turned him on his heels
and
he ran again.

“Keep moving
! O
nce we
are
out
on
to
the open road
,
we
wi
ll be faster than them,” Minco shouted. “Just a little f
a
rther
and we’ll be
in the
clear
.”

They were
n
o
t
quick enough. A
nother three- two Incans and a Spaniard were caught and they too were thrown back into the onrushing hordes.
Their
pitiful
screams
for help
lasted
only
a few
short
seconds
before
they
were silenced by the
power of the
beasts
.
At this
rate,
they would
all
be
slaughtered within a few minutes.

Just as they felt the last of their hopes
seem
ing
to
disappear
,
a few more
heavy
swipes at the jungle cleared
away
the last of the
rich, green
foliage. Spilling out onto the road
,
they could
at last
tru
ly stretch their legs
.
T
hey
pump
ed their muscles
like never before
and tried to
put some distance between them
selves
and the undead
.
Not all of them made
it
away.
Another
couple of their brave party fell under the advance of the undead before they could
all
make it out into the open.

They ran and they ran. Glancing behind every so often
,
they saw the hundreds of the Ukhu Pacha slowly but surely drop f
a
rther and f
a
rther behind
, their injuries when turned
,
taking their toll
. After about fifteen minutes
,
the undead
army
were
nowhere
to be seen.
Even
so,
it seemed clear
,
all that fear and adrenaline
that was
rushing through the little group’s
veins
kept them running.

A
couple of hours later, a
s they arrived at a
large, deserted
crossroads
, Minco ordered the group
to
come to
a
halt. “Stop,” he shouted
, raising
his arms high
so all could see
. “
We’ll wait here and catch our breath. We
also
need to see if anyone else has made it
out
.” He looked back down the
deserted
road
with no real hope
;
he knew only too well that none of the other sol
diers would be
coming;
none that were
alive anyway.

The call for rest couldn’t have come
soon enough
for
Pizarro
.
H
e bent over double
and
for the first time in his l
ife
,
he felt his advancing years. H
is l
ungs burned
hot
and
every one of
his muscles felt
knotted and tight.
As he tried
to catch his breath
,
his mind once again went
to his
gold. He told himself that o
nce he had his prize
, he would never need
to run again.

As
Pizarro
raised his head
, he
saw a small collection of single story buildings set
along
one of the corners of the crossroads. In front of the first one
,
he saw
what looked like
a water barrel with a large ladle hanging on its side. Without
thought or
hesitation,
he walked over to take his fill.
He picked
up the ladle
,
first
using it to bru
sh away the leaves
that
had
settled
on top of the water before filling it with the liquid. Even though
it tasted
slightly
stale and stagnant
,
the water
brought a great relief to his dry and thirsty
mouth and
throat.