“See, I told you I wasn’t going to get my butt kicked” Nick laughed as the pair of them fought off a hoard of ravenous zombies, their samurai swords slicing through rotting flesh and bone as they decapitated them one by one “how fucking cool is this shit!”

“Totally friggin awesome” AJ agreed and raised his semi-automatic and fired a bullet into a moaning zombie’s forehead, splattering congealed brains everywhere, whilst beheading another with his razor sharp sword.

“Dude, watch out…it’s OK, I’ve got it” Nick said as he hacked the head off a particularly sinister looking member of the undead, who was just about to get his friend within his clutches. The head rolled away and the body slumped to the ground with a loud thud.

They played for a while longer until they’d completed that mission, and then decided to call it a night. It was late and they had another long journey ahead of them in the morning. Next stop Salt Lake City, another four hundred miles away. But at least getting a good night of sleep in a comfortable hotel bed would make the journey more bearable…and of course the chance to carry on playing Premonition once they were on the bus!

~*~

Driving in his beloved Impala was something Dean loved to do. He didn’t care how long the journey, as long as he had his music to listen to and gas in the tank, which was just as well seeing as the brothers had missed the Backstreet Boys in Broomfield and would have to drive to Salt Lake City.

“Do we know where they’re staying yet?” Dean asked, leaving the research to Sam, who was sitting in the passenger seat with his laptop open, tapping away.

“Thanks to their dedicated fans, yes” Sam replied as he read some of the posts on the message boards he’d come across and shook his head. “Dude, I am so glad we aren’t in a boy band!”

“What makes you think I’d ever be in a boy band?” Dean asked, wondering why his brother had said such a thing. He even shuddered at the thought of it.

“Just saying” Sam replied “some of those fans are nuts”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind the girls, but that’s as far as it goes” Dean remarked.

“I think you do alright with the girls without the fame” Sam laughed.

“True” Dean smirked.

A couple of hours into the journey and they decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat in a roadside diner. Sam opened up his laptop once more to do a little more research.

“Anything?” Dean asked as he slid into his seat after returning from the bathroom.

“Well, the police are saying Jackson could’ve been killed by some psycho who escaped from the mental hospital a couple of days ago. No one wants to believe there is a killer in their neighbourhood and obviously none of them would believe the reality” Sam explained.

“Anything about that Nick Carter dude?” Dean enquired as he raised his fork to his mouth.

“No, thank god!” Sam replied and closed his laptop to finish off his food.

They finished their food, left a tip for the waitress and left the diner.

“Do we have to listen to this?” Sam asked

“Sammy, you know the rules. Driver picks the music…”

“Shotgun shuts his cakehole. I know” Sam said reluctantly as Dean grinned, turned the music up and put his foot down hard on the pedal.

Being hunters, the brothers got to do a fair bit of travelling. What other job offered the kind of freedom that this one did? No boring nine to five desk job would give them the job satisfaction that this gave them - knowing that with every evil creature they eliminated they saved an innocent life.

~*~

“Y’know, not to sound gay or anything, but I’m actually enjoying sharing a bus with you” Nick admitted to his friend.

“Same here” AJ agreed as he plugged in the Xbox, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

It had been a while since they’d shared a bus, the last tour in fact. With them both being fairly settled down with girlfriends now, they didn’t often get the chance for hanging out together like they used to. But this was a bit like old times, except that now neither of them needed the drugs or to binge drink in order to have a good time.

“Still gonna kick your ass on Xbox though” Nick laughed.

“Bring it on” AJ teased and they sat down on the sofa ready for a few hours of playing whilst they travelled to Salt Lake City for another show. They had a supply of snacks to hand and were ready for another epic battle.

Their next mission was a bit of a wild card mission, anything and everything could happen. They could be up against a pack of werewolves one minute and then a goblin the next.

“Dude, that vampire sure doesn’t look like those hot Twilight chicks” AJ remarked as a hideous fanged creature lunged for him, aiming for the jugular.

“No shit” Nick laughed as they successfully staked and then decapitated the vampires without injury to their own characters. “Anyway, what are you doing watching Twilight?”

“How do you know the Twilight vamps are hot?” AJ came back with.

“OK, point taken. I was forced to watch it” Nick sighed.

“Same here” AJ replied, although he wasn’t going to admit to Nick that he’d actually enjoyed it as much as his Monkee.

The pair continued on and soon found themselves in a dark forest, the undergrowth was thick and their on screen characters had to hack their way through with machetes.

“Well, at least we’re rid of the vampires” AJ observed and took this opportunity to reach for a handful of M&Ms.

“What…the…fuck!” Nick said, causing AJ to look up from the bowl of M&Ms.

“That thing is fucking ugly” AJ agreed as a strange looking creature with an axe and javelin type weapon approached them. The creature was only about five foot tall, but it was dangerous looking. Its skin looked as if it was covered in scales and it had a lizard like tail and taloned feet.

“It looks like it means business” Nick said as the ferocious creature glared at them for a moment or two, as if deciding on the best way to attack.

“Where’d it go?” AJ asked as the creature seemed to vanish into its surroundings.

“Maybe it saw the two of us and thought we were too much to take on” Nick shrugged.

AJ didn’t necessarily agree with Nick, after all, this was a game and the enemy wouldn’t just run away. But he didn’t tell Nick that.

As if out of nowhere, the creature (joined by a couple of other equally ugly creatures) appeared, axes at the ready. The two Backstreet Boys were surrounded and outnumbered. It turned out that these creatures were Troglodytes and therefore had the ability to change their appearance to blend in with their surroundings. They were savage hunters who were known to hunt in packs of three or four to take back fresh meat for the rest of the tribe.

Nick and AJ were in serious trouble.

“Fuck” they both murmured as the pack advanced on them.

Bullets didn’t seem to bring them down. AJ fired off round after round of ammo to no avail. It was as if their tough reptilian skin was impenetrable to bullets.

“What are we gonna do?” Nick asked, not wanting to be beaten by a few five foot high ugly fuckers.

“Fuck knows” AJ replied and raised his crossbow which was loaded with silver tipped arrows.

He fired his crossbow and the arrows seemed to bounce off, landing on the ground still intact.

“This isn’t working” Nick shouted.

“I know” AJ sighed as an axe flew through the air and settled into his shoulder before he’d had a chance to duck. He cried out in pain, tried to grab hold of Nick before falling to the ground.