Die Tryin' by Stavro Yianni

thousand words to Nick Black because he knew at that moment that he had got through to the son of a bitch.
    But, just as quickly, Nick XR2 regained his control, shook it off, and frowned. ‘You knew what we’d be doing here, Nick. You can’t back out now. Whatever is in there is in there, and we just have to face it. That’s the deal.’
    ‘Now you know why I wanted this done so soon,’ Marco said, hands on hips, the torchlight reflecting off his visor like shades in barcode lines. ‘If there’s too much time to think, you’ll make up all kinds of shit, and you’ll start believing it.’
    ‘Well, come on then, tell us. What is waiting for us in there?’ Nick Black asked.
    ‘Gold!’
Marco said out loud, bending over and cupping his hands together, the word reverberating around the tomb. ‘Shitloads of it. And that’s all you should be thinking about.’
    ‘What about the dead body?’
    ‘Bodies,’ Tony corrected, and Nick Black stared at him confused for a second or two. ‘He said her old man’s in there too,’ Tony added.
    Nick Black grabbed his forehead and rubbed.
‘Oh Jesus,’
he groaned.
    ‘Look,’ said Marco stepping towards the tomb.
‘She
is fresh. We’re talking weeks; the formaldehyde they pumped into her probably hasn’t worn off yet, so she won’t be all green and mouldy.’ Nick Black looked away in disgust.
‘He
on the other hand has been in there a lot longer. Around ten years, so, yeah, he should be bones by now.
You ain’t scared of a few bones are you?’
    Nick Black glanced back at the tomb with that dragon breathing its fire out at him. He still felt a horrible mixture of nausea and anxiety worming around inside his stomach.
You knew what you were getting into from the off,
a voice inside him said.
That’s the bottom line. Chicken out now and not only will lose face, but you’ll be branded a fucking wuss for the rest of your days.
    Now, do you want that?
    He closed his eyes and took in deep breath of old, musky air. He curled his fists up into balls and clenched. ‘No,’ he replied, trying his best to be brave. ‘I ain’t scared of bones.’
    Marco grinned. ‘Good! Now grab a fucking corner, we’ve wasted enough time already.’ Nick Black felt a massive smack on his back, which forced his eyelids open again.
    His head spun round and he was faced with Tony’s grin. ‘Come on
re
, we can do this shit,’ he said, now rubbing Nick Black’s back instead of slapping it.
    Nick Black nodded and grabbed a corner.
    ‘Just close your eyes,
re,’
Nick XR2 advised as he took hold of his corner.
    Nick Black thought that maybe wasn’t such a bad idea.
    Once each of them had a corner in their grip, Marco counted them down. ‘Ready?’ he said. ‘On three.’
    Nick Black wiped the sweat from his forehead and gulped.
    ‘One.’
    He closed his eyes again.
    ‘Two.’
    And took in a deep breath.
    ‘Three!’
    Then lifted.
    At first it felt like the thing was glued to the fucking floor, and he quickly realised he had to exert more pressure. He put more into it, and a groan bolted from his chest. He had never even lifted a dumbbell in anger in his life, and so this was totally alien to him. He felt whatever muscle he had in his arms flex, and the lid started to rise, sending a jolt of excitement through him, and now he began to understand just why all those freaks got a buzz out of weightlifting.
    His joy was short-lived once he noticed the corner to his left was rising much more rapidly than his. Then he realised that of course was Tony’s corner.
    ‘Push harder!’ Marco said loudly, and Nick Black did, closing his eyes and grinding his teeth. He pushed from his legs upwards, straightening them inch by inch. And the lid was rising. Rising all the time. He took a look down to see it more than halfway off. The bastard was heavy all right. Fucking heavy.
    ‘A little more!’ Marco said, and he was right.
    Nick Black looked up to be face to face with that damn dragon again. And