Welcome To Hell.A.

by Stephens, L.

  “Daryl!” Jakes said, urgently. “He’s gone!”

  Jake couldn’t believe his eyes, he waited anxiously for Sarah to confirm, but she was silent. He scanned the rooftop again just in case he was mistaken. The giant ‘HELP” sign was there, the body of the girl he had banged and Sarah had absolutely destroyed was there and even the guy he had shot was there too, but his best friend was gone. Sarah was craning her head looking for him too, but she was still silent.

  “Hey driver!” Jake said looking to the pilot like he was his Uber driver. “You think we could spin around the block real quick. I think my friend is down there!”

  Again, there was no response from either of the pilots.

  “Jake.” Sarah whispered as she put her angelic face in to his field of view. “He’s probably just turned in to one of them. We can’t help him.”

  Jake turned away and looked out the window again. He didn’t believe her, and even if he did, he wouldn’t want to. Daryl was in this mess because of him.

  “No fucking way.” Jake whispered to himself. “He’s alive, I know it.”

  Sarah’s hand slowly snaked down his arm and Jake took a deep breath as her fingers grasped his.

  “Look at me, Jake,” Sarah said.

  He wanted to so much, but he was scared she was going to give him everything he had ever wanted in one look. Everything he was too scared to take.

  “Jake,” Sarah repeated.

  This time he summoned all his courage and looked to her. She was there, the old Sarah, her face smiling sweetly at him like all was forgiven, even if he knew it was far from it.

  “Sarah,” Jake whispered. “I love you. I always have and always will.”

  She didn’t lose her smile, and he realized, for the first time in his whole piece of shit life, he felt alive.

  “You know we can hear you right?” the pilot said over the intercom.

  @KillingJake it took my whole world to fall apart in front of me to admit the one truth that I had been keeping to myself. I will always love Sarah Dale, regardless if she loves me or not. #WhitneyHouston #KevinCostner #DollyParton

  †The fucking end slash to be fucking continued.†

  †ONE FINAL AUTHOR’S NOTE†

  On June 6th, 2010 I sent myself an email with an idea. The subject line read “We Will Smile Again” and the body of the message was simple:

  “Zombie slash Post-apocalyptic movie. Non-linear love story.”

  That brief, which was most likely an alcohol infused idea, set me off on a nearly ten year journey full of misadventure and self-discovery.

  I would like to thank you from the deep, dark bottom of my charred and loveless heart for taking the time to read slash listen to WELCOME TO HELL.A. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did creating it. I’d also like to give extra special thanks to my great friend, Hans. Being a friend is easy, but being a friend who will also take the time to check out your work is something different all together. Thank you Hans for all your messages of support.

  If you want an even more detailed account about the process of how WELCOME TO HELL.A. became a thing, please head to HELL-A.com. Once there, you can also join the mailing list and find lots of other stuff, including downloadable art, alternate chapters slash ending, scripts and links to all things HELL.A. related. Also, if you have a moment, please leave a review or jump on the HELL-A.com website and send me some love slash hate mail. I’d love to hear what you think and I will respond, after all, I’m just a piece of shit loser with a penchant for bad ideas. XOXO