Green Bay Run

Chapter Twelve

Yama whirled and sent a burst into the group of walking dead who were coming around the southwest corner of the farmhouse. A half-dozen were struck and flung to the ground, but they all immediately began to rise again. He spun to the right and fired at the second group, the bullets smacking into their chests, and dropped five. Like their ghoulish fellows, they promptly stood, seemingly oblivious to the holes in their bodies and their life’s blood staining their clothes. Among them were the portly man and the woman Yama had seen inside.

What did it take to kill the things?

“Let’s get out of here!” Melissa cried, and raced to the south.

Yama followed, glancing over his left shoulder at the mob of zombielike beings. The beings broke into an awkward jogging gait, and although they weren’t very fast, although they could never overtake a normal person on a short haul, Yama enter-tained the suspicion that the walking dead could run for hours without tiring. A healthy man or woman might outrun them initially, but on a long stretch the superior stamina of the walking dead would ultimately prevail.

“Come on!” Melissa prompted. “Move it!” She sprinted for the trees bordering the south side of the yard.

Reluctantly, Yama followed her. She was bearing to the south instead of the southwest, the direction in which he had to go to rejoin Blade and Samson. He thought about the gunshots he’d heard, and picked up speed.

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?”

“The Technics, you won’t be surprised to learn, were lying to us. They wanted to destroy the Family and confiscate the SEAL. They—”

“Wait a second!” Melissa blurted out, amazement widening her green eyes. “The Home! The Family! Why didn’t I make the connection before?

You’re the ones who took on the Technics and beat them. You’re the ones who killed the Technic Minister.”

Yama nodded. “One of the Warriors took care of the Minister.”

“Your Family was the talk of the Outlands.”

“So we’ve been told.”

“But what happened to Alicia?” Melissa pressed, feeling guilty about prying but needing to know the details. The Warrior was unlike any man she’d ever known. He radiated a supreme self-assurance and a virile, raw magnetism that attracted her intensely.

“The Technics had a demolition squad lurking outside of the Home, waiting for a signal from her. They planned to sneak over our walls in the middle of the night and set their explosive charges. We found the signal device in one of her pockets, and we assume she sent the signal,” Yama detailed. “She came up on the rampart and bumped into me. I was on guard duty, filling in for another Warrior, and she was surprised to find me there.”

Melissa remained silent, listening to every word, detecting every nuance.

“She tried to lure me from my post and I became suspicious,” Yama went on. “At the last minute, when the demolition team was right outside the Home, she had a change of heart and warned me. The Technics scaled our wall. I had hidden on a flight of stairs, intending to jump them when they got closer. Unknown to me, the Technic commandos all had sensitive sound amplifiers in their helmets. They could hear a pin drop at fifty feet.

Alicia must have suspected they knew where I was hiding and feared they would mow me down the moment I stood up.”

Melissa scarcely breathed, enthralled by the tale.

When Yama next spoke, his words were barely audible. “She drew their fire to save my life. One of them cut her to ribbons. I was able to dispose of the demolition squad.” He paused. “Alicia died in my arms.”

They covered 20 yards without saying a word.

“There’s something I don’t understand,” Melissa mentioned tentatively.

“What?”

“If Alicia loved you so much—and I’m not implying she didn’t—then why did she send the signal to the demolition team? How could she want to see your Family harmed, your Home destroyed?”

The Warrior’s shoulders slumped. “She was under the mistaken impression I loved someone else, that I was using her.”

Melissa digested the information for a minute. “She must have loved you very much to betray the Technics. I’ve never heard of a Technic soldier disobeying orders before. The Technic bigwigs impose strict discipline on all their people.”

Yama gazed up at the blistering sun and mopped his left hand across his perspiring brow. “And now they’re up to their old tricks again.”

“Actually, they’re up to new tricks,” Melissa said, and grinned.

“Whatever it is, I’m going to put a stop to their scheme,” Yama vowed.

“Do you want revenge for Alicia’s death?”

“I’d like to see them suffer as I have suffered,” Yama admitted. “Thanks to the Technics, I experienced the greatest loss a man can know, the loss of the woman he loves. I’ve harbored resentment of them since Alicia was shot. Maybe if I can repay the Technics in some small measure, I can finally come to terms with her death.” He glanced at Melissa. “It’s time for me to get on with my life. I can’t mope forever.”

“We should live so long,” Melissa said, staring at the forest on the left side of the highway.

Yama looked in the same direction and saw the line of figures jogging toward them. He recognized the awkward gait instantly. The walking dead!