one by one.

-fifteen-

[Earlier in the day at breakfast. Just after Lucas shot Farkle.]

"Don't just stand there, help him!"

Just as Lucas and Maya disappear behind the door, Smackle turns back towards Farkle who is lying in a pool of red. His hand is clamped tightly against his chest in an effort to stop the blood that is already seeping through his shirt.

Although she can see Farkle screaming, Smackle couldn't make out if it was in agony or for help. Her ears began to ring, as tears run down her cheeks.

"Zay," she mutters, as she falls to her knees.

And just like that, time seemingly stops.

An instant later, or rather the next moment Smackle comes back to reality, he was gone. All that remains is the blood stained floor.

She rises to her feet and slowly walks over to the last place she saw Farkle. A single tear falls from her chin and splashes onto the ground, disappearing into the sea of red.

"Smackle," she hears a gentle voice behind her. Zay. "Are you okay?"

Smackle wipes her eyes dry and plasters a fake smile on her face before turning around towards Zay. As much as she wants to appear confident and collected, her lip begins to quiver, and words can't escape from her mouth.

Within a second Smackle is sobbing into Zay's shoulder, falling into his embrace. Zay knew that he should tell her that everything was going to be alright. But after this how could he promise her that? Smackle deserves the truth, so that's exactly what Zay gave her. As he tightens his arms around his weak friend's body he whispers, "he loved- he loves you."

[With Maya and Lucas, who are out in the forest looking for Riley.]

"We're here," Lucas says, as he stops in front of the bank of the river. "This is where she went missing."

"Where do we go from here?" Maya asks, as she stares at the same currents that she last saw Riley's body disappear under the night before.

"Downstream. We'll look for any signs of her along the way," Lucas explains. "She shouldn't have been able to make it too far overnight."

"What if we don't find her?" Maya questions, still mindlessly focused on the river.

Lucas sighs. "We go back and try to save the others."

"That's not really what I wanted you to say," Maya mutters, kicking a rock into the river.

"Well what did you want me to say?"

"That we are going to find her. That we are going to find her and that she'll be alive when we do." Maya let's out a single, sad laugh. "That this all just some crazy nightmare and I'm going to wake up in my own bed any minute now."

"I really wish that I could tell you that, but we both know that I can't."

"Yeah, I guess so," the blonde huffs.

"We better get going. The sooner we can get back, the sooner we can get out of this hell. Hopefully," Lucas says, mumbling the last word.

[Back with Zay and Smackle who have been moved to a different room together.]

Silence and somber had previously filled the gray room, before Smackle quietly breathes, "Do you really believe so?" With a sparkle in her eyes.