Melissa attained the woods and paused, waiting for him to reach her, nervously eyeing the walking dead. “Hurry.”
“There’s no rush,” Yama said as he stopped next to her.
“Do you want those things to make mincemeat out of you?”
Yama looked back. The things were a dozen yards off. “We must pace ourselves. Don’t wear yourself out or they’ll catch you.” He angled to the southwest. “Stick close to me.”
“Like glue,” Melissa promised, running on his right.
They entered the forest and covered 40 yards. The walking dead, impeded by their inability to skirt trees and other obstructions with the same alacrity, fell farther and farther behind.
“Where are we going?” Melissa inquired when they stopped to look back.
“To find my friends.”
“Let’s hope the walking dead didn’t get them.”
“No way,” Yama said confidently. Blade and Samson would be safe inside the transport. But what if one of them had stepped outside and been surrounded? Troubled by the possibility, he resumed racing toward the highway.
Melissa flew beside him.
They pulled far ahead of the pack of walking dead, and shortly came to State Highway 54. Yama moved to the center of the road and surveyed the highway for as far as he could see. The SEAL was gone.
“Where are your friends?” Melissa asked urgently.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure we’re at the right spot?”
Yama nodded, certain they were at the point where he had jumped from the SEAL.
“Maybe they’ve left you.”
“They would never desert me,” Yama stated stiffly.
“Then maybe the Technics got them.”
The Warrior’s features shifted, perceptibly tightening. “We’ll head for Green Bay,” he announced, and walked eastward.
“We’ll what?” Melissa asked. She balked at the idea, hesitating, then gazed at the foreboding woods and hastened after him. “Now hold on, handsome. Going to Green Bay isn’t a very bright idea.”
“My friends and I were on our way to Green Bay. Since they’re not here, they must be on their way into the city. Even if they’re not, they’ll show up there eventually.”
“But the Technics have taken over the old University of Wisconsin campus. They control Green Bay.”
“I know.”
“The walking dead come from there.”
“I know.”
Melissa blinked a few times in astonishment. “And you still intend to go there?”
“Yes.”
“I take back what I said about hardheaded men. You’re all a pain in the tush.”
The Warrior looked at her. “You don’t have to come with me. Hide in the forest until I return.”
The proposition seemed to shock her. “You’d leave me here alone?”
“You have the Smith and Wesson. Since you were raised here, you must know this area well. Find a place to hide where the walking dead can’t get you. Climb a tree if you have to.”
“You’d really just up and leave me?”
Yama halted and faced her. “I don’t want to leave you. In the short time we’ve known each other, I’ve grown rather fond of you.”
“You have?” Melissa responded, even more shocked than before.
“If you don’t want to go into Green Bay, I can’t throw you over my shoulder and cart you there. I’d rather that we stay together, but I’ll respect your wishes. If you stay here, it’s your decision, not mine.”
“How do you mean you’re fond of me?”
“I like you,” Yama said, and resumed his trek.
Melissa beamed for a moment, then adopted a serious expres-sion and stepped to his side. “You like me how?”
“I think you’re attractive.”
“You do? In what way?”
The Warrior glanced at her. “Aren’t you the least bit embarrassed talking about yourself?”
“No. Why should I be? I haven’t had that many men show an interest in me. I want to know what it is about me you like.”
“I can’t believe many men haven’t been interested in you,” Yama remarked. “You’re extremely attractive.”
“You think so?” Melissa asked, and grinned.
“I know so.”
She regarded him critically for several seconds. “I suppose a good-looking guy like you has had a lot of experience with attractive women.”
“No.”
“Oh? Do you have a girl friend back where you come from?”
“No.”
“A wife?”
“No.”
“Don’t the women there know a good thing when they see it?” Melissa asked bluntly.
Yama grinned, then seemed to stare off into the distance. “There was a woman once, but she wasn’t from my Family.”
“Were you in love with her?”
“Yes,” Yama confessed.
Melissa studied his face, noting a tortured aspect to his eyes. “What happened to her? Did you break up?”
“No,” Yama said softly. “She died.”
“Disease?”
Yama bowed his head, then cleared his throat and gazed straight ahead. “She was shot.”
The agony reflected in his strained tone awakened Melissa to the depth of his inner torment. Finally, here was a man to whom she was strongly attracted, and he obviously had something eating at him. Intense curiosity filled her. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” Yama replied, scanning the woods for any sign of the walking dead.
“Sometimes it helps to get things off your chest.”
“I’ve never discussed this with anyone. Alicia’s death was too personal.”
“Alicia was her name?”
“Alicia Farrow. Lieutenant Alicia Farrow.”
“She was an officer? Where? At the place you’re from?”
“Alicia was a Technic soldier.”
The revelation stunned Melissa. Her eyes narrowed and she gripped his arm. “You were in love with a Technic?”
“A Technic who was a woman first, a soldier second. She betrayed her people for me, and she died trying to save my life. Say whatever you want about the Technics, but never insult her.”
Melissa released his arm and struggled to compose her swirling emotions. “Were in you Technic City when this happened?”
“No. I’m from a compound located in northwestern Minnesota known as the Home—”
“You’re kidding.”
“Alicia Farrow and another Technic, a Captain Wargo, came to our Home and made an offer to the Family Elders. They claimed to come in peace. Their leader, the Technic Minister, had allegedly sent them as his emissaries to request our aid in a joint venture that would ultimately benefit all humankind. They said they knew where we could find the Genesis Seeds.”
“The what?”
“According to the story they told us, a group of scientists had succeeded in perfecting a new strain of seeds shortly before the war, seeds radically different from those already in existence. There were supposed to be fruit, vegetable, and grain seeds that could grow in barren soil and only needed minimal amounts of water. The Technics said the Genesis Seeds were stored in an underground vault in New York City. They wanted us to venture to New York in the SEAL, that van you saw,” Yama related, then sighed. “At least, that was what they claimed.”
“And you believed them?”
“The Family had had no previous dealings with the Technics. We were skeptical, but we had no concrete reason to distrust them. They even agreed to leave one of their own people at our compound while the SEAL
was away as a pledge of their sincerity.”
Insight abruptly flared and Melissa did a double take. “Alicia Farrow?”
“Alicia,” Yama confirmed. “We spent a lot of time together.”
“You fell in love?”
“We grew to love one another, yes.”
“So what happened then?”