It is never a thing for Kirche being the leader, and for the record, she has never been a leader. Leadership isn't just about how a person led a group, but how he/she sympathizes to the other members and to produce more leaders, not followers.

She thought it was just another nightmare that she's been struggling to escape, but no, even though she had slapped her face and banged her head on the wall, it was the reality. She has been chosen. And it is a big responsibility.

Drops of sweat beading on her forehead, her heart pounding, racing like it's trying to win a race. She hadn't talked to any Alpha members except from Brenda; they get some infos from Brenda and talk about stuffs. She tried to relax herself before talking. She heaved a huge sigh then turned to face the alpha members. She bit her lower lip then tried to speak but was too croaked for her to speak.

She cleared before talking.

"I quit." Kirche nervously said to Jorge.

Jorge stared at Kirche, trying to read her mind. Kirche's eyes were sincere, she doesn't want it. Never in a million years would she dare to be one to lead a huge group, never in Taylor's wildest dreams. She wet her lips and stared back at Jorge.

"Why?" Jorge asked. Staring and trying to see through her what's on her trains of thoughts.

"I don't want it." Kirche pushed.

"Then why didn't you object?" Jorge pushed.

"First, you didn't ask. Second, I thought I wasn't going to win because I'm nobody and everybody knows that that Arnold is Ferio's second in command and I don't give a rat's in this position or in this ing matter." Kirche said angrily, her face was almost red as a tomato.

Jorge squinted his eyes while staring at Kirche, he placed both of his elbows on the table and clasped his fingers. "Did you just say you don't care about your group?"

Kirche blinked a few times before answering. "N-no..." she said. "It's just that, I don't know how to lead them; I don't know what to do. I'm just... one who obeys, I don't tell." she said, hardly expressing what she wanted to tell.

The room's atmosphere became awkward, silence hovered the whole room. Thomas tried to think of a solution. Everyone in the homestead stared at Kirche as if she killed a person or two.

"Do before you complain," Minho interrupted. The attention conveyed to him as if he just said the magic word. "Trust me. Been there, done that."

The people who went through to the Scorch and has survived knew that Minho was "The Leader" back in there, the etched words at the back of his neck won't deny the fact that he was. And Thomas knows that this situation is like what happened back in the scorch. That Minho was labeled as the leader, he hesitated a lot, he argued a lot, he was hard to convince and yet, in the end, he settled down and accepted the fact that he is the leader.

"Maybe you're not," Thomas finally said. "But you will."

"And you will, because you can." Jorge said.

Kirche bit her lower lip, she was cornered and she has no power. She has to follow, and once again, she has no choice.

**

Kirche pulled in a huge air then heaved it out of , as she stood in front of the Delta Section. She eyed everyone with courage in her eyes, her hands trembling and her knees weakened. Several drops of salty sweats escaped her pores. She tried to relax herself before spilling orders to her folks. She gulped and continued her breathing exercise.

"Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen." she whispered under her breathe.

"Everyone, listen up I have announcements to make," she spoke, her voice almost broken.

Everyone's eyes met hers, they were intense and anticipating. She bit her lower lip then breathed. "Today, everyone should do their responsibilities and obligations just like before. I wish everyone to cooperate since I'm new—"; her sentence was cut off when someone spoke.

"Why don't you tell us what our duties are? That's what a leader does, right?" It was Arnold, grinning like he was possessed by Satan.

Kirche's eyebrows raised, she wasn't expecting a sudden outburst of stupidity. "I believe you already know what your duties are."

The group booed at the Kirche's remark, Arnold's grin faded and transformed into a mocked expression.

"Okay, to be clear, nothing in the assignments has changed, everyone's roles remains for the mean time," she explained. "Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded with a frown on their faces, "Yeah." They said in unison.

"And although, Ferio's gone, I'd like to ask everyone stay as it is, we can mourn all we want but I hope it won't affect too much on our daily basis and works," she said nervously, unsure if everyone wants to agree with it.

As the crowd nods with sureness on their faces, Kirche's heart lifted up for the positive outcome. It made her mood change.

"Okay, woman up everyone." She said then walked out and as if on cue everyone stood and headed to their workplaces.

**

Thomas and his friends inspected the boat Ferio has last used. Its engine was fine and perfectly working, there's no any damage discovered in the boat nor spilled blood nor a message. They don't have any clue to figure out what have happened to their friend.

"Perhaps we should do some investigation under the sea." Brenda suggested as she examined an interior part of the boat.

"And who's going to do that?" Frypan asked.

Brenda gave them a smile and said, "I'll worry about that." Then she winked at Frypan.

Thomas saw it; his heart suddenly ached like it was being squeezed in a fist. Brenda looked at him when she realized what she has done to Thomas. Brenda resorted at Thomas' side and gave him a peck on his cheek, resulting to a blush on Thomas' cheeks.

"S-so who's the swimmer?" Gordon asked, one of the Alpha section.

Brenda's attention shifted at the query, "Samuel, Melanie, Ernest and Elli."

"Do you really think they could dive?" Gordon asked again.

"Don't worry." She said.

All of them agreed to have some investigations under the sea. They headed back at the land and gathered the four swimmers with their corresponding leaders. Fortunately, all of them agreed to take the risk under the undiscovered surface of water. Thomas felt wary about the mission but he kept it himself, thinking maybe he was just again thinking too much. He stayed quiet as he is; still bothered to something, to something he is also unsure about, making him to get distracted from the topic.

He cannot unseen those nightmares he had, it felt like it will haunt him 'till his death and until he's left only with his bones. Those nightmares... it scared him, to the point he'll just want to end his life if he wants to end it himself.

The water; the familiar faces of people struggling under the water; the computers; the maze; the box; the awful memories; deaths, his mom, things that never wanted to leave him.

The W.I.C.K.E.D.

It's always been the WICKED's fault. All this suffering, it was because of them all along.

Or maybe it's his.

----