Pledge

19. Tar and Feather

19. Tar and Feather

When they returned to the basement, the brothers were lining the walls, leaving a space in the middle with an old mattress laid out.

"Pledge number one and pledge number two, get up here."

The first two pledges stepped forward, uneasily, and swaying a bit from their recent shot intake.

Eight shots in no more than five minutes was no joke, and pledge number two appeared to be a sickly shade of green, already.

"We want to see who the strongest pledge is. Whoever wins each round will continue to fight the next pledge until there is one left standing. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go."

The two pledges circled each other, tentatively. They were unsteady on their feet even before they reached out to grab one another.

Pledge number two reached out and grabbed pledge number one by the back of the neck, and they both went down.

Cheers filled the basement as pledge after pledge was taken out. Pledge number 6 threw up all over himself, which caused a slight pause in the entertainment. Mitch couldn't watch any of it.

So far it was Matt who was winning.

There was only one pledge left for him to fight. He had won against pledges four, six, seven and eight.

Scott stepped forward, looking at Matt, nervously.

"Go."

The two approached each other and before Scott could even take a breath, he was on his back. Matt was on top of him, wailing on him with his fists.

Mitch had never seen anything like it.

Even Jax appeared to be disturbed by the sight of Matt relentlessly punching the flesh below him.

Scott flipped them over so Matt was flat on his back, his arms continuing to move like windmills as tears filled his eyes.

But Scott simply held him there, his hands wrapped around each of Matt's wrists, pressed against the mattress above Matt's head. Matt released a sob, and Scott's eyes widened.

"Erm... Pledge number nine wins," Brad said, stepping forward and helping Scott up. Matt sat up, wiping his eyes.

"The fuck was that, pledge? That's supposed to be your brother. All of you are pathetic excuses for pledges, hurting each other like that. Have you learned nothing? You should have told us that you would never hurt your brother like that. You should have refused. How dare you think that you deserve to be our brothers after that pathetic showing?"

Matt was openly crying now. Scott eyed him with a concerned gaze, clearly wondering what was going on in his head.

Mitch eyed the new scratch on Scott's cheek, which was bleeding slightly. Jax seemed to notice it at exactly the same time, and stepped forward with Scott's tee shirt, wiping the blood away.

"You know what we do with pathetic excuses for brothers?"

The basement was filled with chanting. "Tar and feather, tar and feather, tar and feather..."

"Let's start with our winner, shall we?!"

And before anyone could make a move, Scott was being pressed to that mattress again, this time with Brad, Zach, Jax, and Jeff each holding down a limb. Adrian stepped forward with a giant bucket filled with glue, and poured it over Scott's torso. The four men proceeded to rub it across Scott's body like it was sunscreen.