Good afternoon friends! Hopefully you're all doing well and hanging in there despite the fact that the show is a hot mess right now. This story is... different than the rest of mine. And I have a very, very strong feeling that you're all going to hate it and that's why it's taken me so long to post it. But with a gentle push from SpobyFicStalker, I am bestowing it upon all of you. Let me explain-

A few weeks ago, I was watching this show and wondering what in God's name these writers were thinking. And it's not just Spoby that's a hot mess- it's literally all of the characters and all their storylines. And I'm watching it and I'm like, "This is like watching my favorite characters in an alternate universe." But then my muse went crazy- what if these characters were in an alternate universe? Thus, this story was born. It's twenty chapters of twenty alternate universes, some crazier than the others. They're all unrelated and do not influence one another. It's basically twenty one-shots but I'm linking them together to save space haha. This is the first one- I had to start off with a bang.

The chapter title comes from "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons and the first AU we're finding ourselves in is the zombie apocalypse. Hey, go big or go home, right? Please tell me what you think, if you can. I honestly am expecting hate so it's okay if you throw it at me. Alright. I'm bowing out now. *ducks away from tomatoes* Love y'all. :)

this is it, the apocalypse

A piercing scream awakens her from a mostly restless sleep. Spencer sits straight up and aimlessly feels around the dirt floor for her pistol, mentally cursing herself for falling asleep. She's the leader; she's in charge- she doesn't get to sleep. Disoriented, she rubs her eyes, slips the cool metal into her hands and then she's up before she can think twice. She doesn't hear anything after that, but she heads in the direction of the scream anyway, kicking herself for not bringing a candle. They have two flashlights left, but it's only a matter of time before they, too, run out of battery. And when they do… well. That's truly the end; batteries are a luxury they're no longer accustomed to, anymore.

Another scream echoes through the still air and Spencer realizes it's Hanna, her heart beating just a bit faster as that familiar pang of adrenaline bursts through her veins. Unwanted images of loss and anguish cloud her vision and she frets, pushes them away, and speeds up towards her friend. Hanna's lying beneath a ratty piece of flannel and thrashing in her sleep in a way that tells Spencer her sleep is just as unhealthy as her own. Spencer slips the pistol back onto her belt loop and kneels beside her friend, momentarily at ease that there is no harm done. She places a cool hand on Hanna's feverous, sweaty shoulder and attempts to shake her awake.

"Han," She calls out softly as to not wake the other sleeping residents. "Hanna, wake up. You're having a nightmare."

The blonde's eyes fly open and Spencer watches her get reacquainted with the awful world in which they now reside. "Are they back yet?"

"No," Spencer shakes her head. "But they probably stopped for the night. It isn't safe to travel after dark. You know that."

"He was dead," Hanna laments, tears filling her eyes. "One got him and I had to…"

Spencer looks away and Hanna immediately backpedals. "It was a dream."

"It was," Spencer agrees. "I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow."

She stands and begins to walk away when she hears Hanna whisper, "I'm scared."

It makes her freeze for just the slightest moment before she shakes her head and insists, "We don't get to be scared. Not anymore. We do what we have to do to survive and if we don't… We become one of them."

"Spence," Hanna struggles to sit up. "What if I'm already one of them?"

Her slender fingers come to grasp the metal of her gun once more. "What do you mean?"

Hanna runs a hand over the growing dome of her stomach. "I mean, this baby… What if it's dead? What if I give birth to a demon that tries to eat me alive?"

Spencer bites her lip. Anything's possible, now. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we just have to get through today. Get some rest."

"No, I'm awake, now," Hanna stands, cracking her back. "I'll keep watch. You should sleep."

Spencer crosses the room to yank open the barn door. "I don't sleep anymore."

She can remember the very last time she got a full eight hours of sleep and that was long before the shit hit the fan. She almost misses her giant four-poster bed and that cozy down comforter that she'd lost herself in for years and years, but that's lifetimes away, now. Rosewood had been completely overrun after just days of the virus hitting, assuming that's what it is, and Spencer had gathered her friends, her boyfriend and anyone that had somehow managed to avoid it and gotten the hell out of town. They'd watched people die and come back, they'd watched houses and families get destroyed, and they'd watched, from afar, as the government lost control and dropped bombs from the sky, hoping to contain it, hoping to annihilate it, but panicking and succumbing anyway. The plan was to get to the coast, to hop a boat and sail overseas, to try and find a community far away from the madness where they could live out the rest of their days, however many they had left. That was then.

This is now. Their group of what once been roughly a hundred people has dwindled down to maybe thirty. The longer this drags on, the more they lose their minds; every twig snapping could be their demise, every hiss and snarl from afar could be the one that does them in. They're dirty; what little clothes they had brought with them had been lost in a raid on their camp a few weeks ago that left seven people dead and with no way of bathing combined with the hot, relentless sun and endless dusty roads, they're all strangers to their past selves. They're hungry; the last time they'd had a full meal had been before they'd run out of canned goods and that had been nearly a month ago. Their only hope now is to rely on whatever they can forage or hunt, praying these things are not infected. They're exhausted; physically, of course, because cars have become obsolete and they've all but walked the entire state of Pennsylvania by now, but mentally as well. There are only so many times you can watch a loved one die before it takes its toll on you. Especially when they come back.

Spencer and Hanna sit outside the barn in silence as the sun comes up on a brand new day. It's eerily quiet; no birds chirping, no lawn mowing, no children shrieking with laughter or cars honking they're going to be late for work. Spencer scans the perimeter over and over, on watch even when she's been relieved of her duty, while Hanna fidgets nervously with the hem of her t-shirt and doesn't look up. Conversation has been scarce lately and Spencer can't pretend she doesn't know why. She shakes her head of these thoughts just as a faint growling comes from the tree line. A walker emerges from the patch of trees, stumbling over its clumsy feet, flesh hanging from its bare ribs and teeth protruding from its jowls. Hanna notices, too, and sits up a little straighter as it comes closer.

"Do you want to get it or should I?"

"I see him," Spencer says, reaching for her knife as Hanna cocks her gun. "Han, don't. There's only one. I don't want the noise to attract others."

It becomes irrelevant moments later when an arrow slices through the back of its skull and the walker falls to the ground, immobile. Spencer and Hanna freeze but relax the moment they see Caleb step forward, yank the arrow from its brain and wipe the blood off on a patch of grass beside them. Four others follow him and Spencer breathes a little easier, knowing not only that their gang is back again, but that they hadn't lost anyone, this time. She scans each of their faces and the memory comes back to her again. Once again, she wishes it away. Hopping down off her perch, she follows Hanna towards them and watches as the blonde throws her arms around Caleb, gripping him almost vice-like. Spencer instead approaches Emily, who nods in greeting and presents her with a grocery basket of food.

"It isn't much," Emily says. "But it's all we could find."

"It's enough for today," Spencer replies. "Did you find any water?"

"Nothing," Emily negates. "But there's a ravine about ten miles back and we didn't know what was past that."

"Guess we're going to have to find out." Spencer says. "On the move by nine."

"Can't we rest just a day?" Emily asks. "Please. That's all I need."

"No. We really shouldn't." Spencer frowns. "We have to keep moving if we all want to survive."

There's no time for niceties, not anymore, but then again, Spencer Hastings had never been a dreamer. Once upon a time, she'd been ambitious and driven and cunning and the only thing that mattered to her was the emotional and physical wellbeing of her friends. Her family she could mostly do without and maybe she should feel guilty about that, especially now that they're long gone. But she doesn't. In the end, they hadn't heeded her warning and their pride got the best of them and thus, she can't really feel sorry for them, anyway. Not much of her character has changed; she still wants the best for everyone around her and so if keeping alert and remaining on the move is what she has to do, then that's what they'll do. She lets everyone know they'll be moving shortly and returns to her corner of the barn to throw some of her belongings into a knapsack.

In the opposite corner are two girls who used to be in her math class and Spencer doesn't remember much of them, except that one had bested her in AP Calc the year prior. It seems so trivial, now. The brunette grumbles, "I don't know what she thinks she's looking for. It's not like anywhere is safe."

The one with the glasses agrees. "It's so stupid. This place was quiet and out of the way. We barely saw any walkers. It would be stupid to move."

Aria's coming closer now, slinging a shotgun over her back, and asks Spencer, "Ready?"

She nods and tosses a sideways glance at the two girls, who are still talking shit under their breaths. "Let's head east."

Before they can, Aria frowns and approaches the girls. "Would you two care to share with the class?"

Brunette's eyes widen and she shakes her head, while Glasses frowns. "No. We're good."

"Good. You better be," Aria growls, turning her attention on the rest of the room. "This goes for everybody. Every single one of you. You got a problem with the way Spencer runs things?"

A chorus of disagreement fills the room and Aria nods. "That's what I thought. I don't know many people who would have done what Spencer's done for us all these months. She stepped up when we were all trying to make sense of this new world we live in. She took control when so many of us were losing the very last bit of reality we had. She kept us fed, kept us safe, kept us alive-"

Glasses snorts. "Yeah. Not all of us."

Spencer's eyes snap to hers. Glasses seems to realize what she's said and immediately blurts out, "Oh my god. I can't believe I said that. I'm sorry. I didn't… I'm sorry!"

Coldly, Spencer asks, "You think you can do better? Start your own group. I'm not asking you to stay here. You want to go? Go."

She grabs her bag, crosses towards the door, and calls, "For those of you who'd like to stay, we're leaving now."

Spencer takes the lead and doesn't look back to see who follows. There are two walkers in her path and she takes them both, head to head. She wipes the bloody knife on her jeans and steps over the rotting corpses, unfazed. The first time she'd ever killed a walker had been the most terrifying experience of her young life, but there had been so many since then, she can barely remember the time when it disgusted her. In fact, it's hard to picture her life before this at all; there was once a time when the air didn't smell like decomposing flesh and when the dead stayed dead and didn't come walking and when she was able to sleep soundly without the sound of hissing in the air or the fear of falling asleep and never waking up. Every now and then, she gets flashes of what her life was and she has to will it away, because she'll never have it again. Even on the off chance that they find a secure place, with food and water, her life will never be the same.

Fifteen miles down, they find an abandoned minivan attached to an RV and Caleb jogs ahead, Mike on his tail, to see if they still run. Door handle in hand, Caleb looks skyward and says, "I've never asked you for anything. Please do this for us."

He yanks the door open and instead is met with the slender, grabbing arms of a walker behind the wheel. She snarls and reaches for him as Hanna shrieks, "Caleb! Be careful!"

A shot rings into the afternoon heat and blood splatters onto the wheel and roof of the car. The arms fall limply against the seat and Caleb reaches in and pulls out the body. "Dude, that is so not what I meant."

"Mike!" Spencer exclaims, her head swiveling in all directions. "Why would you do that? They're all going to swarm us now!"

Mike looks bewildered and shares a look with his sister before saying, "I saved Caleb's life."

"And you could've done so with a knife!" Spencer insists. "I'm going to check the perimeter. You see if the cars run and call me if you get them to start."

She takes off into the tree line and Mike sighs. "Is she serious? That thing was going to eat him."

Aria frowns. "It's fine. She's right."

"Is she?" Mike shakes his head. "She's been such a hard ass since-"

"Stop," Aria halts him. "Let her be."

"Hallelujah!" Caleb suddenly shouts over the purr of the engine. "There is a God!"

"I can't say I agree," Ezra calls out. "Considering this is how bad things are."

"Now if this one runs," Caleb announces, hurrying to the RV. "That must mean…"

A second hum of an engine is heard and everyone breaks into applause. Caleb's full on grinning. "This is amazing. The tanks aren't full, but we'll make it a hundred miles or so without walking."

Hanna beams and kisses him. "You did it! It's going to be tight, but it's something!"

Spencer returns moments later, notes the excitement and asks, "They work?"

"They work," Caleb smiles. "We can fit seven in the van and everyone else is going to have to fit in the RV. It'll be a little cramped but-"

"Great," Spencer nods. "Let's get going. We can't drive at night- the light will attract them."

"Where are we going?" Emily calls out.

Spencer gets behind the wheel of the van without asking who wants to drive. "Anywhere but here."

Hanna gets in the passenger seat, Caleb following behind her. She turns to assure her best friend, "I trust you, Spence."

Spencer frowns. "At least someone does."

She doesn't go on runs anymore. She used to love doing them because it was something to break up the monotony and darting in and out of structures, keeping away from walkers, and running as fast as she could reminded her of her childhood, chasing and being chased by her older sister. But she doesn't go on runs anymore. Caleb's in charge of them and has been since the start and he will tell her over and over that she's better suited to be back at camp because she's their leader and what if something goes wrong? He says it so genuinely and so kindly, Spencer almost believes it. Almost. But she knows the truth. She doesn't go on runs anymore because of what happened last time.

They'd found a supermarket a few miles up the road from the clearing in the woods they were making camp in. They'd just run short on water and food and Caleb arranged a group- he, Emily, Spencer, two guys from Rosewood, and Toby. Toby and Spencer had hung back from the rest of the group just a bit as the supermarket came into view. "I don't know why he always asks me to come on these."

Spencer had grinned. "Because you're super agile and surprisingly fast."

"Surprisingly?" Toby had poked her. "I'm sorry, weren't we running buddies before all this?"

"And wasn't I faster than you?" Spencer teased right back.

"Yeah, yeah," He rolled his eyes, slinging an arm around her. "I'm scoping out the perimeter?"

"As usual," Spencer nodded. "And once we've got the okay, we'll all be in and out of there in no time."

"As usual," Toby mimicked. "And you'll be careful?"

"Of course," She agreed. "And you will too?"

"I wouldn't be anything but."

Toby gave them the okay moments later and the six of them- Toby, Spencer, Caleb, Emily, and two guys they'd dragged from Rosewood- entered the market with their guns drawn. They were met with silence. Abandoned, dusty shopping carts and baskets littered the ground and there was a faint dripping sound from the leaky ceiling, but all else was quiet. They split up, three and three, and took off in opposite directions, gathering all the food they could find regardless of whether or not it was healthy or tasty. When they rarely had options to begin with, they didn't have time to be choosy. Just as they were about to leave, there was a bang from the front door and they noticed a few walkers just grazing their exit.

"That's the way we came in," Emily shrieked, arms full of cases of water.

"We can go out the back," Spencer suggested. "We can't waste the ammo to take them out."

"Well, we better move fast," Toby agreed. "Come on."

They raced through the aisles of the store, passing abandoned offices and yanking open the door to the stock room. Just as the door opened, a walker stumbled out and fell onto Emily, who screamed in surprise and shoved it off her just in time. There must have been dozens of them in the back, more than they'd seen up front, and they were truly trapped, now. The only way out would be to fight their way through and risk sacrificing most of their food and maybe even their lives. Spencer shot a look at Toby, who nodded a bit apprehensively and the two unsheathed their guns and began firing into the horde. Gunfire exploded into the room and blood and brains and flesh spattered against the walls, the desks and their only exit door. A walker leaned forward, greying teeth bared and ready to bite, but Spencer got him right between the eyes and when she was able, she pushed open the door and fell outside.

One by one, her friends followed suit. Caleb first, then one of the guys from Rosewood, then Emily. Emily was out of breath when she blurted, "We lost Oliver. He panicked. They're eating him alive."

Spencer didn't care. "Where's Toby?"

Emily shook her head, eyes wide. "He was there and then… Then he wasn't."

Spencer scrambled towards the door, but it swung open one last time and out stumbled her perfect, wonderful Toby. She sighed in relief, grinned, ran to embrace him… and then paused. Her arms fell from his neck and one was covered in his blood. Her eyes met his and she felt her world completely stop the moment she saw the look of sheer complacency in his eyes. He knew. He knew as well as she did so why wasn't he freaking out just like her? In her rage and sheer terror, she tore one of the sleeves off her shirt and fashioned it into a bandage. There was a gaping, oozing, bleeding hole where her favorite spot used to be, right in that spot where his neck met his shoulder, right where she'd rest her head at night and fall asleep to the sound of his even, steady breathing. It was gone and in mere hours, he would be, too.

"Toby…" Spencer croaked. It was all she could make out.

Beads of sweat were forming on his brow and he softly shook his head. "I tried. I wasn't as fast, this time."

"Dude, your shoulder," Caleb hissed. "Oh shit."

"What happened?" Emily wondered, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"I was in hand to hand with this walker," Toby explained. "He almost got me. I tried to shoot but I ran out of ammo and… I got desperate. I rammed his head into a wall. But his buddy… He was behind me. He'd gotten me before I even knew he was there. There was no stopping it."

Spencer looked as though she was going to combust. "No… No, see, it's actually not even that bad. We can cover it and… Maybe it won't spread. We'll get some antibiotics in you… We've got some at the camp. It's going to be okay. It's… It's not going to… You're not going to-"

"Spence," He silenced her. "It's only a matter of time."

She stared at him and jumped into action. "Okay, well then, let's get you back to the camp. Let's get back and we'll go from there. It'll be okay. You're going to be okay."

Their camp was miles away and with every step, Toby grew weaker and weaker. Spencer buckled under his weight and moments later, Caleb slipped his other arm around his shoulders wordlessly and helped her out. Her heart felt as though it was going to burst through her chest but she refused to acknowledge the inevitable. Toby wasn't going to die. He wasn't. He couldn't. She remained headstrong and steadfast and focused upon returning to the camp. But just miles from their locale, Toby collapsed to the ground, his body radiating heat, and slowly shook his head. He could not go on. Spencer glanced from him to the remaining members of the group and made her decision.

"Okay, we'll just rest a minute," She sat beside him, pulling him all the way against her. She reached into her bag, poured some water onto a spare cloth and began to dab away the sweat along his forehead and jawline. "And then… We'll keep going."

Toby painfully shook his head. "This is the end of the road for me."

"I'll carry him," Caleb insisted. "We'll get you back, man."

"I'll help," The guy from Rosewood nodded. To this day, Spencer cannot seem to remember his name.

It's in agony that they brought Toby back, but eventually, they made it their camp and settled him onto a sleeping bag in the tent he shared with Spencer. Toby nodded his thanks and Caleb and Emily ducked out to give the two privacy in what would inevitably be their final moments together. Silence filled the tent and for the first time, Spencer glanced at her boyfriend and realized that tomorrow and the day after and the one after that, he would no longer be around to share it with her. A painful tug nearly stopped her heart and she knelt beside him, cradling his head in her lap and smoothing his hair, trying to make him as comfortable as she possibly could. Naïveté went by the wayside and Spencer did all she could to accept the fact that she was going to lose him.

She felt him inhale and he spoke so softly it was almost inaudible. "I love you."

"No," She shook her head. "No, I'm not ready for you to go yet. Please don't say goodbye to me."

"But I do," Toby insisted. "I love you. I love you so much. I never thought I could love anyone in the world as much as I love you."

She felt tears sting the backs of her eyes but she willed them away, wanting to see his face as clearly as she could. "Please don't leave me."

"I don't want to," He groaned. "But you don't need me. You're the strongest woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. And if anyone is going to beat this world, it's going to be Spencer Hastings. You know it and I know it."

"I don't want to beat this world if you can't come with me," She said. "It's not my world without you in it. It wasn't supposed to end this way."

"I know," He replied. "I never thought… I'd become one of those things."

She shook her head so fast she saw stars. "I'm not letting you become one. I'll end it before that happens."

"I can't let you do that," Toby disagreed. "I don't want you to do that."

"I don't want you to become one!" Spencer shrieked. "I won't let that happen."

"Then have someone else do it," Toby pleaded. "Please. Anyone but you."

"I might not have a choice," Spencer told him. "I'm not leaving you."

Despite this, despite everything, Toby smiled. "You're so damn stubborn, Spence. Why do you always have to be like that?"

She smiled too. "To put up with you."

His eyes closed blissfully. "You're beautiful. You're powerful. And you're brave. Don't you forget that."

He inhaled slowly, exhaled much more slowly and then was still. Spencer instantly panicked. "Toby? Toby, no, please, no. No. Please! Toby!"

She pressed her ear to his heart and was met with a terrible silence that nearly ended her. Clutching his body to hers, she kissed his forehead, his temple, his cheek, and whispered, "I love you. I love you so much. I don't know how I'm ever going to make it without you."

Gently, ever so gently, she laid him down and ran her fingers one last time upon his perfect face, his soft skin, his chiseled torso. "You were all I ever needed… All I ever wanted. You're my everything."

Pulling their blanket up and over his body, Spencer gulped past the lump in her throat and shakily grasped the knife in her back pocket. "I'm going to miss you more than you'll ever know. Just know that… I love you so much. And that's why I have to do this."

She unsheathed the knife and plunged it deep into his skull.

"Hey look," Emily points out about a half hour into their drive. "There's someone there."

Spencer squints and just there, about fifty feet ahead of them, is a man walking along the road, looking beaten and worn down. She grips the steering wheel tighter and says nothing. Emily adds, "We should stop and see if he needs help. He's alone."

"Or so he wants us to think," Spencer deadpans. She drives on.

The man hears the wheels churning the dirt road, stops and turns around. He begins to wave his arms wildly and shout for them to stop. Emily asks, "Are you going to stop?"

"No," Spencer states and Emily looks at her in surprise.

"What? Why?" She wonders. "We should help him!"

"Why? What has he done for us? What has anyone on the street ever done for us?" Spencer shoots back. "Remember Norman?"

Emily bites her lip. Norman had been a man they'd found weeks earlier who'd stolen their food and half of their guns. He hadn't been seen since. "That was different."

"You don't know that."

"And neither do you!"

"I'm not willing to take the chance," Spencer says. They drive past the man who cries out and falls to his knees.

Emily looks stricken. "He's going to get eaten."

"Better him than us."

Emily says nothing the rest of the drive. They run out of gas right outside Lancaster and set up camp for the night. They forage for food in the rundown houses nearby and build a fire to cook their limited means on. Dinner is eaten in silence and the air is deathly still; Spencer of course says she'll take first watch when everyone is ready to turn in for bed. Caleb decides he'll sit up with her too and tries desperately to get her talk about any and everything, but she's not interested. She'll go on until she cannot anymore, but she's not truly living. Her reason to had left her and so she'll fight because he told her to fight; she'll carry on for her friends. But she doesn't give a damn about anything else.

The air is still much too quiet when morning dawns and Spencer has the disquieting feeling that something isn't quite right. And she's proven right moments later when not one, not two, but ten and maybe more walkers come traipsing into their camp. She shouts to everyone to wake up, to move, to arm themselves, to get out and unloads bullet after bullet into their skulls. Caleb races to Hanna, and the two of them join hands in mortal combat. Mike beats one to death with a baseball bat and Ezra's fighting three at once. Spencer can hear the pained cries and she knows she's losing people this morning. She knows this is a losing battle and soon, everyone she knows and loves will be gone.

A snarling, hissing sound comes from behind her and Spencer turns, gun ready, and fires… but she's out of ammunition. It's a particularly nasty one- guts spilling from open ribs, dangling flesh hanging from its face, deep, swollen eye sockets with blood red eyes, and teeth sharp and ready to tear into her own skin. Spencer walks backwards slowly, enticing it even further, and inches towards her bag to reload. But a corpse from beneath her is lying in her path and she trips and falls backwards just as her walker falls on top of her. Spencer's eyes widen and she fights with the walker for just a moment before realizing this could be it. This could be her end. If she lets this thing devour her, it would be over and she could be with Toby again. She closes her eyes and lets go.

You're the strongest woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Her eyes fly open again as the walker leans closer, going for her neck. She shoves it off of her, backwards and onto its behind. It's relentless and crawls forward again.

You're beautiful. You're powerful. And you're brave. Don't forget that.

She aims a swift kick right into its face and again it stumbles backwards. She could give up, right here, right now. She could let someone else be leader for a change. She could die.

If anyone is going to beat this world, it's going to be Spencer Hastings.

Or, she could fight. She could go on. She could do all she could do and die with dignity, maybe weeks and weeks from now or maybe tomorrow. She doesn't know. But she does know that Toby wouldn't want this. Toby would want her to fight, because that's all she's ever done and why should now be any different just because he isn't there to fight with her? She reaches into her pocket, slips the knife into her hand and crawls on top of her attacker. Right between the eyes she ends his growling and then stands, runs to her knapsack, reloads her gun and releases the trigger. She shoots endlessly until there's nothing left to shoot. And after it's over, there is silence. Except, there isn't, not really. Because there's a harsh shrieking and sobbing from a few feet away and her best friend is sobbing violently over her lover.

It's déjà vu and it's so unwelcome Spencer can barely see straight. Aria is covered in blood that isn't hers and Ezra is lying so deathly still beneath her. Everyone- well, everyone that's left- flocks to them and Aria sobs, "He's gone. There was a walker and I couldn't do it and he… He… He's gone!"

He's pale as a sheet and Spencer knows there isn't much time before he reanimates. She kneels beside her friend and says calmly, "I know what you're feeling right now. And I know how much it hurts. But you need to step aside."

"What? Why?" Aria wails. "Why?"

Spencer eyes her gun and Aria shakes her head unbelievably fast. "No. No, you can't. You can't!"

"If I don't, he'll come back," Spencer says. "And you don't want to see that. You don't want that."

"I can't leave him," Aria insists. "I won't."

"Step back, Aria."

"No."

"Step back, Aria!"

"No!"

Suddenly, Ezra's eyes fly open, but they aren't the normal blue everyone's used to. He sits awkwardly, snarls, and attaches himself to Aria. It happens before anyone can blink and Aria's bloodcurdling scream fills the early morning air as everyone around them is sprayed with arterial blood. Emily covers her eyes and shrieks, "Someone do something!"

Two shots are fired, one from Spencer's gun and one from Caleb's. No one knows who shot first or who shot whom, but both Aria and Ezra are unmoving on the ground before them. Mike falls to the ground in hysterical sobs and Emily sinks beside him, her arms around him, her own tears falling freely. Hanna's taking deep, shaky breaths and Caleb places an unsteady hand on her back. Spencer has to get out of here. She turns from the scene and runs, just runs blindly, faster than she'd ever run in her life. She pushes through weeds and leaves and trees and finally, when she can't run anymore, she collapses against a boulder and breathes heavily as she tries and fails to process what just happened.

It's then that it all hits her. Every emotion since the day she lost Toby pushes past her walls of denial and bursts to the surface. She breaks down in tears and sobs loudly, her chest heaving, her body unable to catch her breath. She wishes she had allowed the walker to eat her alive, she wishes she had convinced Aria to move away, and she wishes more than anything that they had never gone on that run that day. She wishes she were dead because anything is a better alternative than this. Toby's dead and wherever he is now, he's safe and away from the pain and grief this sorrowful life is bestowing upon them. She wishes he were here with her now, to hold her and cry with her and tell her everything was going to be okay even if it wasn't, even if she knows better. She cries and cries and cries until she is empty inside and only then does she feel restored.

She had nothing when she started. She has nothing now.