Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (26 page)

Pizarro
was
the
second only to Inguill
to clamber
up
onto the trunk of the
tree.
He
was
in
n
o
mood to let
any of
his men precede him. Now that
the monsters
were
almost upon them
,
it was
every man for
himself
.
He had urged Inguill to climb up ahead of him, but this was with no sense of chivalry. The priestess was not expendable, but the rest of them
certainly
were.
The shape of the tree
made their
progress slow, the curved surface and the
various
shapes and
sizes of
the
branches kept
his speed
to
barely
a
walking pace.
Behind him
,
t
he
soldiers of Supay were coming
...and
they were
far quicker
than that.

Due to their
lack of
speed
,
n
ot all of the men
from Cuzco
made it across
the ravine
.
An undead girl in the ensuing deadly struggle seized one
.
H
e tried to push her away
and
they both fell
away
from the tree
. Even as the
evil
beast tumbled towards its
own
destruction
,
it fed
heartily
on its victim
. T
he urge to eat was
,
as always
it seemed
,
far
stronger than anything
else did
.

Once
the
rest of the
survivors made it to the opposite side of the river,
they could
at least
better
defend this point
.
Because
the beasts
were only able to
cross
the tree in single file
,
this
part of the plan was proving
successful. S
till
,
it
was
n
o
t
going to be
enough. The sheer numbers of the
soldiers of the
Ukhu Pacha were
too much
for them
to handle. T
here were
just too
many
of them to handle
. N
o matter
how hard they
tried
to stem the flow
of
the
undead
,
they kept
on
coming.

“
Over here,
” Almargo screamed. “S
omebody
, anybody
,
get the hell over here
and
help me!
” He was attempting to lift a
sizeable
length of heavy
,
timber pole. “We can use this
to lever the tree of
f
the edge. Come on...for God
’s sake
,
will someone
please
come
over here
and
help me!”

Two of his fellow Spaniards joined him
and together, they carted
the pole over to
wards
the large
tree;
the
y
jammed it
in
as hard as they could
,
deep into the branches near the peak. Another four
of
Pizarro
’s men
left the
ir
defensive positions
to help them push up the pole
to its apex
. Even wi
th their
combined
might
,
i
t
still
only
groaned and scraped along the ground but it
did
move,
inching
its way
slowly
closer
and closer
to the edge.

Just as the undead
fought t
heir way onto
the living
side of the ravine
,
the tree s
lipped away from its
feeble
hold.
A
lmost
in
a
slow motion
movement,
the tree
slid
branches first from its precarious perch. The heavy trunk was sent
skyward as
it fell vertically into the
rapid
water below.
The
monster
s that had still been clambering along its
length
joined it
on
its
rapid plunge to oblivion.

Only f
ive of the undead were left alone on the living side of the ravine.
The
y did not last long. Incan and Spaniard
alike
attacked
. They wanted
,
at
long
last
, to
take
some revenge
for the lives the creatures had destroyed
and they took
the opportunity to take
it out on the beasts
with their own
version of
snarling savagery
. Even once they were
dead and
destroyed the blows kept raining down, over and over again they were pummelled until all that was left
of them
was just
a
mushy
pulp.

“Yes!” Almargo screamed
, punching his fist in
the air. “
We’ve don
e it!” All around him
,
the other soldiers
cheered and joined
in on
the
long
awaited
and welcome
celebrations. A few
of them
even shouted across the ravine to the
scores of
undead
trapped on the other side.
It somehow felt good to goad the beasts.

“Alright
,
th
at’s enough,
”
Pizarro
said, losing
his patience. “This isn’t finished
yet;
not by a long shot.
W
e’ve still got to
reach
the city of
Huacas
.
” He moved amongst the group of men
in an attempt to rally their attention
. “
Let’s
move
now!”
Obediently, they moved along
...all
, that was,
apart from the
still
smiling Almargo.

“You did well
once
again
,
my friend,”
Pizarro
said, taking a moment to his oldest friend a true
smile
as he patted him on the shoulder
.
“How many times is that you’ve saved us now?”

“More than a few, Colonel, I’d say that
it
was more than a few.” For the first time in an
age,
the old soldier looked happy. His friend took a moment to chuckle.

Just as they were about to leave
,
Almargo
looked
over the edge of the ravine
, taking one
last look at h
is handy work. With his hands on
his knees
,
he carefully peered over to
get
himself a good
look at the remains of the tree
below
.
Instead, in his shock, a
ll he saw was
the face of
one undead
soldier,
just below the edge and
holding
on
tight
to a
long
, dirt-encrusted
root.

Before Almargo
could move
away
,
its arm reached up and
grasped
onto
his
right
hand
in an iron
strong
grip. Almargo
struggled
to break free
but no matter how
hard
he
tried;
the monster would not be shaken loose
.
Adrenaline soaring, Almargo’s
free hand reach
ed for his dagger
. At the same
time,
the beast pulled itself up and
sank its teeth into the
flesh
y
pad between his wrist and thumb
.
Almargo roared in indignant fury and plunged
the blade
into the creature’s
temple
.
Its
grip
was
immediately released and it fell, now limp
and
in true death
,
to join
the rest of the bodies
below
.

The damage had
already
been done.
Pizarro
was already
standing
at his
old friend’s
side
.
They
both
looke
d at the wound, at Almargo’s
still
shaking
hand
. A chunk of his palm and blood was sluicing over the rest of his hand and falling in a freshet onto the vibrantly green jungle floor
.

Wordlessly,
Pizarro
tore a section of his own tunic and wrapped Almargo’s wound with
a
gentle care.
“
Don’t
you
worry,
my friend,
”
he managed to speak
,
though
his voice
was
shaking with
shock, “Once
we smash that dam
n statue
,
you’ll be just fine.”
Once
again,
h
e
found
that
he
could
no
t look his man
in the
eye.

Almargo’s free hand
rose and covered both of
Pizarro
’s, effectively stopping his motion and forcing him to meet his gaze.
“We both kno
w it
’
s
already
far
too late for me
,
Colonel.
We
’ve seen
too many times
how fast people turn after they’v
e been bitten.
I know
my time is short.”

“No
way
,
”
Pizarro
said and even to him
self
, he sounded like a plaintive child. “
I
will not
let this happen! I just need you to
hold on
for
a little while longer
...
that
’
s an order
,
soldier!”

With a
resolute
shake of his head
,
Almargo pulled himself
free from
Pizarro
’s desperate grip
. “
I
can
already
feel the
damn
poison working its way through my body
.” He
levelled a knowing gaze at his friend
. “
And my Colonel,
I have
one last favour to ask of you.
Do not let
me turn into one of those things.”