Prologue

Hannah was laughing. She was crying, too. She was laughing and crying at the same time. She was so glad to see me uninjured, hence the crying, and watching me struggle with a happy and overly excited canine, hence the laughter. I felt Maximus, my doberman, slather his saliva all over my cameo uniform, knocking my formal Army cap off of my head.

"Thanks for the help, Hannah!" I said, sarcastically which caused the blundering mess of my best friend laugh even more hard but nonetheless she came over towards. With a few words and kissing sound effect, Maximus got off of me but stood close by, wagging his tail with such zeal that I worried that his tail might pop off. "I missed you, too, Maximus!"

My dog yelped happily in response. I stood back up to meet the watery blue eyes of my best friend. "I told you that I will be back." I muttered but I might as well screamed it. She was already smiling but that comment made her grin more exuberant. She flung herself at me and I easily caught her as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I missed you so much, Genesis Marie Wilson! I thought that the army will make you stockier and boob-less, but no, still slim as a dancer." she noted as she inspected from my head to toe. I don't know how she sees my body; in fact, it was covered in full Army gear minus the bag that was twice my body width. Sienna brown combat boots laced up till the bottom half of my calf gave me an inch or two of height above Hannah. "I am surprised they didn't force you to cut your hair." She reached up and took a long strand of my black hair. "Yup. Just as I thought: you seriously need hair products in that birds nest!"

"Sorry, in Afghanistan, the beauty salons weren't exactly open for business during our stay." I said, sarcastically, laughing. I did get a hair trim from a nice local woman, though. She had given us this to-die-for black tea with mint leaves in it. It was in rare occasions to see my team, my platoon, relaxed.

"Any good looking Arabs?" She asked ask Maximus nudged my palm with his wet nose. I nodded. "Spill!"

"If you thought African American with blue eyes were exotic, just imagine Arabs with blue or green eyes. Yum! If it weren't for that religion, I would have eaten them up. Also, it would be considered as fraternizing with the enemy." I said, remembering the handsome men. Hannah grinned at my reaction.

"We got lot of things to do. I know you just returned and are tired, but the gang can't pass up to welcome you home." she said and I groaned in response. I was really looking forward to my own bed, to my own home, but decided that Hannah will not be budged on her decision.

"Lead the way." I said, giving up. You can't win against Hannah O'Hare. I grabbed my Army packing bag and I followed my beat friend of 10 years out of the airport. I watched her waist length, curled blond hair sway with her confident strides. She had luminescent light brown eyes with long, thick eyelashes. She was a magnet. A magnet that brought people towards her with her huge beaming smile that could bring the cruelest to their knees and make priest sing hymns about her. She was majoring in being lawyer, just like her dad.

Then look at me. It's not the fact that I am jealous of her looks. As she was bright as the sun, I was dark as the moon. We were exact opposite. I had long black hair that was needle straight with deep set gray eyes with an angular face. I was tall like her (I was 5'7" and she was 5'8" to be exact) but had personalities that was equivalent to the Ying-Yang concept.

"WELCOME HOME, GEN!"

It was the whole group. Danny, Rebecca, Sam, Kyle, Hannah, and Greg. All of these guys were my friends since middle school and we stuck together through hard times and joyous moments. It was really relieving feeling to be in their company. It was hard to decide what to do first, really hard: visit mother who is trying to show me her new (which one was this?) boyfriend nonchalantly or go to the friends who were there for me? So hard.

I hugged them all, remembering their hugs and their scents, bringing back memories. After hugging them all, my eyes were wet by how happy I got just by hugging them. They were my anchor to my ship through a storm. The storm being the downfall of my mother's independence.

"Well, what are you standing there for? Grab a beer!" shouted Kyle, throwing a can of Guinness beer at me. I caught it as I groaned.

"You asshole, it's going to fizz out now!" I shouted, flopping beside him and in response, he just grinned. I simply shook my head as my eyes flitted towards Hannah who was sitting dangerously close to Greg. She caught my eye and I just raised my eyebrow. She blushed, looking away, causing a sly grin to stretch over my face. Oooh, you sly cat!

This was home. This IS home. As it should always be.

But that was not the case.

Two weeks after, the epidemic of virus that turned humans into zombies destroyed us and our once home was now a barren battlefield with people we used to know turned cannibals inhabiting the area.

It was the first time I ever had a fight with Hannah.