Before I begin the chapter, I need to re-emphasize that paragraphs in italics means it's a flashback. Don't get confused, please.

.xXx.

Chapter 10: Begin Again

It was the dead of night. There was plenty of opportunity for A.D. to strike. The question now was whether or not she chose to use it.

The girls had been travelling in a pack for the past few days, especially at night. It went like this: Spencer at the front, alert for any noises, Alison and Hanna beside her, and Emily at the rear. By right Aria should have been with her, but that was in the past. Before she'd betrayed them.

A rustle in the leaves up ahead sent Spencer running into them, to the protests of the other three. Hanna ran after her, determined to bring her back. Meanwhile, Alison and Emily were left on the road, fidgeting nervously and jumping at any slight noise.

Minutes passed. Ten minutes later, neither Hanna nor Spencer was returning their calls, or even sending out a text to tell them to go home. Looking at each other anxiously, they reached an unspoken agreement to go into the woods and look for them.

The tree Spencer had named as the 'half-point tree' was just a bit ahead. Emily approached cautiously, looking out for anything unusual Alison hugged herself to the side. Emily poked her head into the clearing and turned back, shaking her head. Whether it meant the other two weren't there or the coast was clear, Alison never found out.

With a swift 'thump', something hit the swimmer, hard, in the back of her head, and she fell to the ground, barely having any time to yelp in pain. Alison gasped, running forward, not even able to reach her side before what may or may not have been the same object hit her and she too fell unconscious. Alison never got to see Spencer and Hanna up ahead, both slumped against the trees.

The hooded figure known as A.D. emerged from the shadows, pulling out a stack of cash and handing it to the masked assailant, who saluted her and walked off, counting his profit. A.D dragged each of the Liars into her minivan and drove off.

Aria had betrayed her. Aria knew who she was, and she was going to warn her friends.

Aria had decided to go against A.D, and now, there would be hell to pay.

.xXx.

It was just an address. A location. Several words, scrawled hastily onto a scrap of loose-leaf, but it was causing so much trouble.

To the side, Hanna and Alison were arguing on whether or not it was a trap, Alison finally having realised that it couldn't have been Aria who'd written it, but Hanna remaining firm. Both girls were yelling so loudly that the birds had flown away and Emily had turned up Beyoncé's album to the max, adding to the din.

Spencer was busy studying the words. It looked so familiar, but she just couldn't pin it on a certain location. She was racking her brain, trying to figure out where she had seen it before, but failing. Her stomach rumbled urgently, but she ignored it. Figuring out where this lead to was worth a little hunger.

Her stomach rumbled again, sending pains shooting up her abdomen, Groaning, she gave in, pulling out a pretzel from the shelf. A piece of paper slipped out and fluttered to the floor, seemingly daring Spencer to look at it. Curiosity piqued, Spencer bent down to pick it up and take a look. It was an old flyer for the Lost Woods. Spencer had completely forgotten it was there.

Just as she made to toss it in the trash, something caught her eye. She held it in front of her face, looking at the resort's address, and then looking at the one scribbled on the paper. It was a match!

"Guys, all of you shut up!" Spencer yelled, and the whole house quietened tremendously. Words weren't needed – Spencer held up the flyer and everyone gasped, realising that the answer was right there. No one spoke for a moment, then Emily said, "So… Do we go, or not?"

"We'll take a vote," Hanna suggested, "If you want to go, raise your hand now."

Only Alison's hand remained firmly planted at her side. Scowling at Spencer, she said, "Weren't you the one who said it wasn't Aria who wrote this?"

Spencer shrugged, saying it was worth a shot. Sighing, Alison hung her head, defeated as Emily grabbed her keys and Hanna got into the front seat. Alison trudges out the door, looking at Spencer pointedly when she didn't follow.

"You go on," Spencer said, "I'll catch up."

Nodding, Alison left Spencer alone in her kitchen, gobbling up the pretzel greedily.

.xXx.

Emily awoke groggily, blinking in the dim light. When her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, she found herself in a tiny shed – more specifically, the one the girls went to almost every day when they were younger.

She tried to get up, her head still throbbing from the blow, but found herself unable to stand. She looked down, and nearly toppled over in shock. Her legs were tied to those of the chair, her arm restrained behind her back, and she was gagged. Emily looked around, close to tears and found the other three unconscious and restrained, too.

After a few minutes of nudging and yelling through her gag, all four Liars were awake. Spencer was trying to cut through the rope with an old, rusty nail, but to no avail. Hanna, meanwhile, had hopped over as fast as she could to the light switch, groaning all the while at the weight of the chair, and with her nose, managed to turn on the lights.

All four girls gasped. Now Hanna knew why it had been so hard to move. Every surface of the shed and the chairs was covered in dynamite sticks, all taped or tied to the surfaces. A huge box of TNT stood in the middle of the room, not lit yet, but still threatening.

They didn't even have time to process all this when a hooded figure walked in, box of matches in hand. Though the girls pleaded all they could with their eyes, trying to convince A.D. to stop, she paid no heed. Within seconds, the match was lit and brought near the fuse of the TNT. It would be a long, torturous death – the fuse had purposely been made several metres long, but at least it would give the girls time to escape. Without a second thought, A.D lit the fuse and walked out, barring the door shut with a plank.

It was over for them. It had to be. They'd ceased their pounding on the door and were now waiting for their deaths. There was nothing anyone could do now.

Then, at that exact moment, the sound of the plank being thrown aside snapped the girls back into reality. The door was thrown open, and standing there was their little-but-big friend. Aria.

Without a second to lose, she got to work untying each of her friends. With only a minute left, Spencer was still in the hut, only her left arm free. With fumbling fingers Aria undid the knots on her legs, only a few seconds left. Finally, Spencer was free, but the TNT was only seconds away from blowing up. With a last burst of strength, Aria shoved Spencer out, she herself still in the shed.

Someone yelled her name as she shed blew up in a brilliant flash of orange and red. Aria stumbled out, covered in blood, shrapnel impaling her limbs, and collapsed in a heap on the ground. Cries of terror and shock were heard. Someone else dialled 911, and as Aria was lifted away on a stretcher, the girls ran toward Rosewood Hospital, all the while watched by A.D.

Turning away, A.D. typed out a message and hit send.

.xXx.

"Here we are. The Lost Woods. I haven't been here in ages!" Spencer sighed.

She led the girls into the reception area, expecting to see a lonely Harold talking to a stuffed animal, but the place was empty. The girls didn't think much of it – he was probably out in town for lunch or something.

The key to room 2 was missing, so the girls headed towards it. Hanna opened the door, expecting so see Aria knitting a sweater or something, but instead, the room was empty. Hanna pushed the door open wider, letting the others in.

"Let's get looking," Spencer said, opening a drawer.

Emily looked under the bed, finding only dust bunnies and dead bugs. A soft ticking sound was really starting to annoy her, but she tried to ignore it. No one had found anything so far, and the ticking was just mocking them from the side. Huffing, Emily stormed over to where it was coming from (the bathroom) and flung open the door.

Emily gasped at the sight before her: a literal, ticking time bomb! "RUN!" she yelled, dashing out of the resort as the others followed, all having caught a glimpse of the bomb. Three girls made it out, but Hanna tripped on her heels and fell as the bomb counted down to her final seconds.

BOOM.

In a very déjà vu moment, the resort exploded into a gazillion pieces, three girls safe from the damage. Hanna was nowhere to be found. Emily ran into the debris as the flames crackled, getting bigger, hungry for oxygen. "Em! We have to go now!" Alison yelled over the fire.

"I have to find her!" Emily screamed back, tossing aside planks of wood hysterically.

"It's too late! The fire will get bigger and you're going to burn to death!" Spencer cried, trying to pull Emily back as she flailed about. She succeeded in the end, dragging the swimmer to the car and trying to wrestle her in.

"Hey! You guys aren't leaving without me, are you?" a voice yelled.

All three girls turned to see Hanna, grinning playfully as she walked towards the car and was tackled into a hug by Emily.

"Han, you're alive! How did you survive?" Emily asked, finally letting Hanna get a breather.

"She got me out," Hanna said, pointing behind her.

Standing there in that infamous red coat was Aria, smiling sheepishly.

.xXx.

The wait at the hospital was a long one as they waited for news on their tiny friend. Ezra was still on his way, and Byron, Ella and Mike were in the waiting room with them.

Four phones beeped and four girls flinched. They should have been used to it by now, but the prospect of someone watching their every move was something you took time to warm up to.

Remember what I told you, Spence? – A.D.

"What did A.D tell you, Spence?" Alison asked.

Gulping, Spencer fished out the diary A.D had planted and flipped to the last page. "I didn't want to believe it, but I now think it's true. That's definitely her handwriting," she said. Each of the girls examined it, worry etched on their faces.

"So what now? We let her destroy our lives again, or we destroy hers," Hanna said, "It's not too hard of a decision."

The girls nodded at one another and trailed out of the room, walking back to the car.

.xXx.

"It's you," Spencer whispered, tears of joy flowing down her face. Aria remained silent, backing away slowly.

"You really are alive," Alison gasped.

"You let us believe you were dead," Emily said quietly.

"You wouldn't have cared either way. That's why I stayed hidden," Aria explained, turning to run, but Hanna grabbed hold of her arm.

"Not until you give us some answers. We've waited two years for this. You're not going anywhere until we know the things your diary didn't say," she said.

Sighing, Aria looked at them dead in the eye. "Everything you need to know, you already know. Can I go now?"

"At least call off your crazy boyfriend and tell him to stop trying to kill us all," Hanna insisted.

"Okay, I will. Can I please go?"

"You can't go now, okay? Not when we just found you! Do you have any idea hoe torn I was when I found out you were dead? And now you're leaving again! At least let us apologise, we owe you one for what we said and did to you, when in fact you were trying to protect us! We're sorry, okay!" Spencer cried.

Aria looked them down, whispering, "I forgive you. And I won't keep running if you don't want me to."

The girls stood in silence for a few minutes, before Emily spoke up, "This is great and all, but I think we should stare intently at each other in the car. The police will be here any second."

"Yeah, and then Mary's going to kill me," Spencer mumbled.

"We have to go now. Come on, Aria," Alison said.

And during the ride back to Rosewood, though the Liars couldn't have been happier, the figure in the shadows was more enraged than ever before. If they wanted to play this game, then Alex could, too.

Game on bitches – A.D.