Die Tryin' by Stavro Yianni Page A

now it seemed to have an angrier stare. It knew what they were up to, and wasn’t best pleased. Nick Black just closed his eyes again.
    Out of sight, out of mind…
    Then there was a wobble that almost sent him toppling, and he realised it was because they had finally managed to get the lid off. A nasty fetid reek hit his nostrils and flew to the back of his throat. He instantly wanted to retch.
    ‘Steady!’
Marco said. ‘Don’t drop it!’
    Nick Black turned his head away. ‘That fucking stinks!’ he blurted.
    ‘Just ignore it!’ Marco ordered.
    The worst of the smell dissipated and Nick Black managed to flip his palms under the edge of the lid. He began pushing with his arms instead of his legs. Soon, they had the lid suspended in the air.
    ‘Slowly, take it to your side,’ Marco said to Tony and Nick Black.
    They both began to sidestep away from the open tomb, the weight of the lid starting to hurt Nick Black’s arms. He felt his legs trembling.
    ‘A little more,’ Marco said.
    Nick Black puffed his cheeks and shifted over more, his wiry arms now screaming.
    ‘Okay, that’s enough. Put it down slowly…’
    Nick Black dropped his arms down in response, out of sync with the others.
    ‘Whoa, whoa. Slowly!’ Tony exclaimed.
    Nick Black groaned and took up the weight again, this time bending his knees, allowing the lid to ease down. After what seemed like an eternity, the lid finally touched the ground and the pressure was taken off his aching arms. He jumped back, grabbed them and rubbed, relieved to feel the pain slowly vanish.
    He puffed his cheeks. ‘Bloody hell, that was hard!’ he said. Nick XR2 gave him a serious nod of agreement.
    ‘No problem for me,’ Tony said, shrugging nonchalantly. ‘You’re just a bunch of pussies.’
    ‘Whatever, Tone,’ Nick Black replied, still trying to catch his breath.
    For a second back there he thought he was going to drop the thing. He had never—
    ‘Ker-
fucking
-ching!’
    Nick Black’s eyes flicked upwards to see Marco by the edge of the tomb, shining the torch inside, staring downwards from behind his visors. Nick intuitively guessed that if Marco wasn’t wearing those shades, he would instead be looking at two big bug eyes staring on in awe.
    ‘What is it?’ Nick Black asked, and it was an inquisitive voice, borne out of a train wreck curiosity suddenly overcoming him. Part of him was still apprehensive about seeing something he didn’t want to, but Marco’s response completely challenged that feeling. Now, his curiosity had been piqued, and he found himself
wanting
to know what was in there, and like a moth to a flame, he was drawn, unable to stop himself. They all approached the tomb simultaneously, driven by that same train wreck inclination.
    They had come this far, now they had to complete the task.
    Nick Black craned his neck forwards to peer inside, keeping his hands folded behind his back, acting as if a shark was waiting in there to bite off his fingers if he got too close. Slowly, slowly, piece by piece, the whole scene came into view, and as it did, his jaw became slack and then completely collapsed. He needn’t have worried about laying eyes upon a rancid moulding corpse infested with maggots because the woman lying there looked like a waxwork model, her eyes closed, at perfect peace. She could easily have just been asleep as far as Nick could see.
    Her arms were by her side, her wrists smothered in bracelets that glinted seductively in the torchlight, decorated with a dazzling combination of chocolate pearls, smooth and gleaming like globules of dark honey; crimson rubies like hardened droplets of blood; emeralds, viridian cat’s eyes staring at them in the gloom. A low cut, black velvet dress displayed the huge swell of her breasts, fat gold chains shaped like Diamond Back snakes writhed around her neck and disappeared inside her deep cleavage. A diamond studded tiara was perched perfectly on her head as if she were about to be