A/N: Thank you so much AsgardianGrizzly and May a Chance for your reviews!

I finally squeezed enough time for another chapter! Yay! :D This one is dedicated to all who love to watch the cute boys of TMR beating each other and...other stuff.

Chapter 10

The Pole

Bam!

A heavy impact emanates from inside the Homestead.

Minho pries the rear door open a crack. He peers through, only to see Newt sprawled on the bottom of the staircase, face down. The boy's limbs are thankfully not as twisted as he would expect.

Gally reaches the blond, eyes staring at ahead at someone or something else.

Minho pushes the door open a bit more and sees Alby descending the stairs at an awkwardly slow pace.

He appears scared.

"Did you kill him?" Gally hisses.

Alby's face pales, contorting, his expression appearing as if the whole thing is his fault. Minho leans in further to listen.

Gally checks Newt's pulse, frowning, thick brows furrowed. He shakes his head.

"Nope. He's still there…for now. Did Chris really tell you to kill him?"

Alby doesn't respond to the question. "Let's just take him outside. Chris is waiting for us."

Gally grabs Newt's skinny arms while Alby hauls him up by both legs.

In an instant, Minho has Gally's head between his hands, slamming the boy against the railing. His knee connects with the fellow Runner's stomach.

Gally returns a blow in the jaw. This boy from the alternate universe is definitely stronger than the Builder version.

Alby instinctively had prevented Newt's head from hitting the hard wood, and he rushes over to prevent the escalating fight.

He grabs a hold of the back of a cursing, kicking Minho's shirt, prying him off a screeching, punching Gally. However, he can't hold either one back.

Minho breaks free as Gally throws another punch from the side. The former side steps, grabs the arm with both hands. Minho redirects Gally, using his momentum to push him into Alby.

The two hit the floor with a smack.

Baggers rush into the room, followed by the kid who had been with Gally. They quickly overcome the fuming Keeper of the Runners with their numbers with several bruises and broken ribs as a price.

"Minho, if this is how it's going to end, you haven't disappointed me," Alby says, spitting blood on the floor.

"Take him and…Newt outside to The Pole."

"No! How could you do this to him?" Minho growls spit flying from his mouth, "Traitor! Alby, I'm gonna shucking kill you! You hear me? Even if I die and become a ghost, I'm gonna kill you!"

As the Baggers haul him out and are shutting the door he says one last thing.

"Remember what you did to your friends."

Newt could only remember Alby staring at him from the top of the staircase, and voices—lots of voices. Then he could sense movement on either side of him. His mind wasn't computing anything, except that lone image of his friend pushing him.

He didn't even remember hitting the stairs, or Gally fighting with Minho, or him being dragged outside. He sensed people around him, speaking, but he couldn't catch what was going on.

Whatever it was didn't sound good. He finally gathers enough strength to open his eyes.

And he wishes he hadn't.

The first thing he notices is his wrists are bound in front, tied above his head to a makeshift arch lashed with many vines. His arms burn from hanging limp for who knows how long, and he tries to stand upright.

But once he puts pressure on his left ankle, he instantly drops the thought.

It looks like his good leg is sprained.

The next thing he notices is Minho twenty feet across from him, bound to a metal pole with a flag above. He's conscious with a few purple bruises, but nothing serious.

Then putrid breath hits his nostrils, causing a wave of nausea to strike him. Gally.

Newt twists his head to get a good look at the alternate guy, a strong Runner with a bloody nose.

It was probably from Minho, Newt thinks.

"You're awake," Gally comments, getting in front of the blond. "How'd you sleep?"

Newt mimics the boy's smile of mockery.

"Very well. You didn't considering how bloody ugly you turned out to be."

At the comment, Gally punches Newt's cheek. The older boy's head snaps to the side, but he returns to the original position defiantly.

The Runner grabs Newt's chin, bringing him only inches away from his face.

"You shouldn't have done that, Shuckface."

He then lowers his voice to a whisper, "Play along if you want to live."

Newt barely has time to hide his surprise before Alby steps into the scene, face grim, hands clutching a vine rope and a whip.

"It's time," he says, voice faint.

Another blond with a bandage on his smug face and a cane yells at him.

"Hurry up, Slinthead! We ain't got all day! Jack's cooking and I don't want to be late!"

"Yeah guys, your majesty is starving. We must promptly execute the useless eaters," Minho responds sarcastically.

He earns laughs from some of the boys, and a fist to the gut by another.

"I'm waiting," Chris says, impatiently tapping on his cane.

Gally steps aside, allowing Alby adequate room to slip the vine around Newt's neck.

He ties it into a noose, tightens it. He pulls to test how secure it is; then begins lashing it to the top of the arch.

Fear trickles down Newt's spine, mixed with hope.

Hope that he wouldn't be killed.

"Ya know what, give that to me!" Chris snaps, snatching the vine and whip from Alby. "You're such a sissy!"

His icy blue eyes lock on Newt's dark brown ones, his cold, without remorse.

His hand draws back, lashes out with the whip snapping out like a serpent.

Newt shuts his eyes, waiting for the rocky ends to dig into his flesh, drowning out Minho's screams.

Then something unexpected happens.

A/N: Yes, another cliffhanger! But let's just say this turned out very different than I had planned. This is so fun to write, I'm definitely going to keep at this one! :)

Thank you for reading and please review! You make the stories all the more fun!

Julia