“Anything interesting?” Sam Winchester asked as he strolled back towards the car, having just refilled it with fuel and purchased a few snacks for the road on one of the many credit cards his brother had obtained fraudulently. He sometimes wondered whether he’d ever have a normal nine to five job, but quickly dismissed the idea. He’d grown accustomed to this life he and his brother had forged for themselves as hunters of the supernatural. His brother Dean was scrutinising the newspaper, something had obviously caught his attention, a look of deep concentration was displayed on his face.

“Could be our next job” Dean replied, tossing the newspaper to his brother to look at “the circumstances surrounding his death do look suspicious”

“And we're only about a hundred miles away” Sam nodded his head, agreeing with Dean that the story in the newspaper did look right up their street “whose turn to drive?”

“Do you really need to ask?” Dean replied, already walking around to the driver’s side.

He started up the car, cranked up the stereo and hit the gas, leaving the small town of Hilldale behind as AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ blasted from the 1967 Chevy Impala’s speakers.

~*~

“Dude, you have to check out this game, it’s freaking awesome!” Nick said, turning his head around to look at AJ who was tipping the last remains of Doritos out of the bag and into his mouth.

“How awesome?” AJ asked “is it better than that zombie game we were playing last week?”

“Way better” Nick replied with a huge grin on his face and Xbox controller in his hand.

“That good huh?” AJ asked and reached for the game case to read the game features on the back cover. “Premonition… survival-horror-action game…multiple supernatural enemies” AJ read “sounds pretty fucking good”.

“It is. Look how awesome these graphics are, it’s like watching a horror movie with me in it!” Nick grinned and then turned back to the game where the character on screen looked very much like him. The game was a demo, not due for release for at least another six months, but Nick had contacts and had managed to get hold of it before anyone else (well, apart from a few select employees over at Ubisoft who were trialling the game).

“Can I play it later?” AJ asked, wanting in on the action. He wasn’t as big of a gamer as his friend and band mate Nick, but he did like to play video games when the mood took him.

“We’ll see” Nick smirked.

“Come on you guys, time to get to sound check” Howie popped his head around the door of the bus Nick and AJ were sharing, looking at his watch in annoyance. Nick looked as if he’d just rolled out of bed, dressed as he was in crumpled clothes. Howie shook his head and left them to it. If Nick wanted to go to sound check in scruffy joggers and a ripped t-shirt then so be it!

“Coming Dad” Nick joked and paused the game so that it would be ready to continue with later. “I swear he’s turned into Kevin”

“I hear ya” AJ agreed and they both laughed.

The Backstreet Boys were on tour again and due to perform at another sell out concert later that evening. They’d been on the road so long this time, trying to get to as many places as possible to repay the fans for their continued loyalty. There weren’t many bands like theirs which could still pull the crowds after seventeen years, apart from Take That who’d recently celebrated twenty years of existence. But they didn’t really count as they’d taken ten years off, whereas the Backstreet Boys had remained together through thick and thin, good times and the bad.

Nick and AJ soon joined Brian and Howie in the black SUV and were driven to the arena for sound check.

“Wonder what we’ll get asked by the fans today?” Brian wondered out loud.

Sometimes fans surprised them and asked really interesting and unique questions, catching them off guard and making the sound check party more memorable. Other times it was the same old tired questions like ‘what kind of underwear do you prefer’, ‘what’s your favourite colour’ and ‘when is Nick going to settle down, does he have a girlfriend’. Those kind of questions bored them to death.

“I hope they’ve got some good ones” AJ replied. AJ wasn’t shy when it came to answering personal questions; in fact, he wasn’t shy when it came to any questions the fans threw at him. He often let things escape his mouth that should be kept private. But that was AJ; nothing stayed a secret for long once he knew about it!

A couple of hours later and the boys were on stage, a group of fans in the front rows singing along as they sang ‘Siberia’. It was one of those songs they all liked to sing live, in fact it was Brian’s favourite Backstreet song, but they hadn’t performed it on tour since Never Gone as it hadn’t been a single. Once they’d finished, it was question time.

“AJ, do you have any plans to bring back the Mohawk you had for the Inconsolable video?” asked a pretty brunette wearing a ‘Mrs McLean’ t-shirt.

AJ laughed and shook his head “I don’t think I have enough hair to be able to” he said as he ran his hand over his thinning closely cropped hair “why, did you like it like that?”

“Oh yeah, it was sexy as hell” she giggled.

“Well, thank you very much” AJ replied.

The boys were asked a couple more questions, the usual kind, before doing another song ‘Drowning’.

“That is my favourite song of all time, but what are your favourite Backstreet songs?” asked a blonde holding her camera up to capture the conversation on film.

“I bet I can answer for everyone” Nick grinned as he looked at his friends perched on their stools.

“I should say ‘As Long as You Love Me’ because that’s where I met my wife, but my ultimate favourite is ‘Siberia’” Brian replied to be met with cheers from the fans. He then began singing part of it before Howie cut him off to give his response.

“All I Have To Give” Howie replied and then turned to Nick.

“Incomplete” Nick said and turned to AJ.

“Mine’s off the new record” AJ said and then proceeded to sing ‘If I Knew Then’ with Nick joining in.

Sound check that day went down really well, as they did most days. It was only occasionally they had an off day.

“We’ll see you guys later” they all said when they were done with the meet and greets and the photos. It was time to go backstage and have something to eat, chill for a couple of hours and prepare for the show.

z88;