“Right.”

“Left.”

Both AJ and Nick replied at the same time.

“Okay, lets do this the manly way… jan ken po.” Nick said, getting into a stance.

AJ cocked an eyebrow, “Dude… are you serious?”

Nick shrugged, “Or… we could innie minnie miny mo it?”

AJ let out an exasperated sigh, “Now you’re just playing with our lives.”

“Yeah Nick, that’s a great idea!” Kevin said, sounding a little too excited for anyone’s liking. “Why didn’t I think of that? Ooh, and we can grab each other’s hands and play ‘Ring Around The Rosie’ while we’re at it!”

Nick stared at Kevin with an awkward expression, “Okay… was that sarcasm or did he really just mean that?”

Howie rubbed his hand over his face, “Can we just pick a door please.”

Brian shot Howie a look, “I don’t know about you, but I am really in no rush to continue on with this game.”

“Oh my gosh, that is sooo cool!” Nick suddenly blurted.

The four of them all shot their attention over to Nick. “What are you talking about?” Kevin asked.

Nick bit his bottom lip, suddenly feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention. “Well… it was just that… I was just thinking… you know that saying ‘you shouldn’t play with life, it isn’t a game’ or whatever, well Brian just made me realize that we’re playing with our lives because it is a game… or we’re in a game, and we’re playing with our…” Nick slurred off, their stares feeling as if it was burning holes into his body. “never mind.”

Kevin shook his head, “Okay, lets have a vote. Who thinks we should go through the door on the left, raise their hand.”

Besides Kevin, Nick was the only one that rose his hand. “Okay,” Kevin sighed, “who thinks we should go through the door on the right?”

Both Howie and AJ rose their hands. Kevin looked over at Brian, the only one who didn’t vote. “Um Bri, your vote?”

“I’m not voting.” Brian simply replied. “Cause I don’t want to go through either doors. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m the only one left with common sense to actually NOT want to go through with this stupid game. Here you guys are, prancing around with damn weapons thinking it’s the coolest thing ever to kill all these people when we should be thinking logically about this situation and think of a way to get ourselves out of here.”

They all remained silent after Brian’s little outburst. “So… why don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel Brian.” Nick snickered.

Brian shot a glare at Nick, “This isn’t a game Nick!”

The four of them looked down at themselves, holding their weapons out in front of them. “I thought this was a game. I mean, it was the last time I checked, and that was…” AJ held his arm out in front of him, looking down at his invisible watch, “couple seconds ago…” he looked down again, “and right now.”

Kevin placed a reassuring hand on Brian’s shoulder, “You need to calm down cous.” he looked over at the whole group, “We all just need to keep our cool. We can’t afford to drive each other apart with our nonsense. If we want to get through this, we all need to stick and work together because that’s the only way we’re gonna survive. Once we go through whatever door we decide to go through, we are leaving all this drama, all this shit at the door and we’re gonna go in there and get the hell outta this by winning, together.”

Nick jumped in and added, “Yeah, cause we’re unbreakable dawg!”

“Shutup Nick!” they all said in unison.

Nick frowned, “What just happened to sticking together, not picking on Nick and shit?” he grumbled.

Brian sighed heavily, “I vote for the right door.”

Kevin nodded, “Right door it is.”

Nick grinned and let out a maniacal laugh, “Alright fellas, lets get this kick ass show on the road!” he exclaimed as he started making his way towards the door.

As Nick began walking towards the right door and reached out for the knob, Kevin extended his arm out, stopping Nick mid-stride. “Alex, will you please?”

AJ walked past them, eyeing Nick as he did so. “This ain’t a Nick Carter world anymore.” AJ muttered with a grin as he reached for the door knob, opening it with ease.

“This ain’t a Nick Carter world anymore.” Nick mocked as he followed AJ through the door.

Once the five of them walked through the door, they were greeted by a beautiful, scenic environment, surrounded by lush trees and full, green grass. If it wasn’t for what they were still wearing, they would’ve believed that walking through the right door had them entering back into the real world.

“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Nick mumbled out.

AJ rolled his eyes, “We never were in Kansas, dipshit.”

“Alex.” Kevin voiced in a warning tone. “That was to be left at the door.”

Nick chuckled and stuck his tongue out at AJ, “Yeah Alex, that was to be left at the door.”

Kevin shot a warning glance at Nick now, “Nickolas. Shut it.”

Nick’s eyes widened, “Why does AJ get a freaking reminder and I get told to shut it?” he pouted.

“We agreed that this nonsense was to be left at the door, so stop it and lets just go.” Brian spoke out, hauling his flamethrower up on his shoulder.

Nick smiled and patted Brian on the shoulder, “Yeah B-Rok, that’s what I’m talking about!”

AJ leaned over towards Howie and whispered to him, “Rok totally looks like Sean William Scott right now.”

The five of them began walking down the paved path, deciding to see where it led to. Time flew by, and they were still walking along the path, feeling as if they had been traveling for hours. The hot sun bore down on them, causing beads of sweat to bubble up from their prickled flesh and trickle down. Feeling extremely tired and weak, Nick was the first to stop.

“Hold up guys.” Nick said, hunched over trying to catch his breath. “Could we take a break?”

“Nick, are you serious?” Brian asked. “We ain’t got time to take a break!”

Nick straightened himself up, “Of course we do… that’s why they created a ‘pause’ button on game controllers. Besides, you were the very one that was in no rush to do this, now you’re suddenly gung ho to go and get the job done?”

Kevin sighed, knowing that the light bickering between Nick and Brian would soon escalate into another argument. “Look, I think we all could go for a break. What good would it be if we went ahead with no strength whatsoever left in us to fight? We’ll take a small break and then we’ll go on.”

While the others walked over to the grass to sit down, Howie walked up behind Kevin, “Have I told you how much I’ve missed your dictatorship within the group?”

Kevin chuckled and shook his head, “I could’ve swore before I left that I dubbed you with my dictatorship abilities?”

AJ laid back on the grass, lifting his arm up and placing it over his face to shield his eyes from the bright burning rays of the sun. Everything felt so real to him, from the hot burning sun to the exhaustion, and he honestly couldn’t remember characters in the videos games he played experiencing this. It was then that something hit him.

“Hey…” AJ drawled out, pushing himself up from the grass, “Game freak!” he chuckled to himself when Nick turned to his call. “In video games… isn’t there something that the characters collect to regain their strength or whatever? Or give them lives?”

Nick’s eyes widened and beamed brightly, “Shit, that’s right! Why didn’t I think of that before?”

AJ shrugged, “Because I’m smart and you’re dumb.” he muttered.

“What are you guys talking about?” Howie asked, wanting to understand this… foreign video game lingo.

Nick rose from the grass to give his explanation. “Okay, so in video games, whenever the characters get injured or die, there’s something in the game that they collect to replenish their health or give them more lives.”

“Yeah, like in GTA, the guy regains strength or more lives by running through a heart or some shit like that.” AJ added.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… hold up.” Brian interjected, “Did you just say ‘whenever the characters get injured or die?’ When was anyone gonna tell me that there’s a possibility that we would lose our lives?”

AJ began to massage his temples, “I thought the whole ‘death’ thing was established a long time ago…”

Howie sighed heavily and glanced over at Kevin, “Here we go again.”

“What did you think Brian?” Nick asked, “That we’d go on in this game and not die?”

“Well, geez Nick… seeing as how this is a game, OF COURSE I THOUGHT THAT!” Brian replied in sarcasm.

“There’s death in video games Brian.”

“Yeah, and you would know cause you’re a game freak right?”

“What the hell is your problem man?”

“I don’t have a problem! You guys are the ones…”

“ENOUGH!” Kevin roared, immediately bringing the arguing to a cease. “I’ve had it with all this arguing and bickering and name calling… I’m tired of all this bullshit! We agreed that this was to be all left behind as soon as we walked through that door. I don’t know what the hell is going on between everyone, but you guys better drop this shit right now or we can all kiss our asses goodbye.”

They all remained silent, looking at each other in embarrassment. Kevin took a deep, steady breath in to calm himself, “Nick, continue on. And we will have NO interruptions this time.” He looked over at his cousin as he said this.

Nick swallowed hard, “Okay… um, as I was saying, there’s something out there that should help us to regain our strength or give us extra lives.”

“How do we find out what those things are?” Howie questioned.

Nick shrugged, “That’s what I don’t know.”

AJ looked around at their surroundings, “Well… maybe if we eat some berries or some shit that’ll help. I mean, seems logical enough.”

Nick shook his head, “It’s gotta be something more than that. We won’t find berries to eat on every level.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Kevin suggested.

AJ began walking over towards a line a bushes that went right along the path they were walking on. He pushed his hand through the bushes, in hopes to find some type of berries, but came up with nothing. As he continued his search, he stopped when he noticed a lone flower near a tree that was behind the bushes. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the abnormal flower was floating.

“Anything?” Kevin asked.

AJ shook his head, “Nothing. But I found a fucking floating flower.”

“A floating flower” they all repeated in unison, sounding rather confused.

Nick’s eyes brightened, a light bulb turning on in his head. “That’s it!”

They all turned to look at Nick, “What’s it?”

“AJ, touch that flower.”

“Shit, the hell I am! I ain’t touching that fucking floating flower… looks kinda demonic and shit.”

“A demonic flower AJ?”

“Nick, if you want to touch it so bad, why don’t you bring your ass over here and do it yourself.”

“Just touch the damn flower AJ.”

Instead of fighting his point, AJ sighed heavily in defeat. Slowly, he inched his way through the bushes and towards the floating flower. “I can see it now… cause of a death, a fucking floating demonic flower.” AJ grumbled as he slowly reached out towards the floating flower. He closed his eyes tightly right when his hand was within reach, and as soon as he touched it, it disappeared.

“MOTHERFUCKER!” AJ screamed, collapsing back onto the ground.

The four of them quickly made their way over towards AJ. “Are you alright?” Howie asked in concerned, bending down to help him up.

AJ quickly scrambled up from the ground. “I told you that fucking flower was demonic! It just disappeared!”

Nick rolled his eyes, “How do you feel Jay?”

AJ calmed himself long enough to realize that he felt rather well. “Well… I kinda do feel better.”

“You see.” Nick beamed, “Told ya the floating flower was a good thing.”

Kevin cocked an eyebrow, “So… you mean to tell me, that along this quest we’ll need to run through… floating flowers in order to gain health or extra lives?”

Nick nodded, “I think once our health is replenished fully, running through these flowers will give us extra lives, but that’s only if we have full health.”

AJ gaped at Nick’s explanation, “What the hell? There’s games where the dude has to collect first aid kits or medicine or some shit like that to give them health and extra lives, and we’re stuck collecting fucking flowers? Hell, even a pretty pink heart would’ve been better than this! If anyone finds out about this game, we had to collect cannabis to regain health and give us extra lives, not no fucking floating daisies.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Alright you guys, go look for those flowers. Once your health is regained, we’ll meet back on the path and continue on.”

Three minutes later, they all regrouped on the path, reenergized and back to full health. They resumed their trek along the path, AJ volunteered by the others to lead the way all because he was the only one that could open the doors in the game.

Kevin rounded up the back, weapon armed and ready, looking around cautiously. “Anyone have an idea on what we’ll run into on this level?”

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.” Nick quipped.

AJ glanced over his shoulder at Nick, “Dude, what the hell is with you and the Wizard of Oz?”

Nick shrugged, “That’s what it feels like, doesn’t it? I mean, we’re walking along a brick road, and… AJ, you remind me of Dorothy, Kevin’s the Tin Man, Brian’s the Scarecrow, I’m the Lion and Howie… you can be Toto.”

AJ snickered, “I think you have that twisted. Brian should be the Lion and you should be the Scarecrow.”

Nick gave AJ a quizzical look, “Why?”

“Cause the Scarecrow was looking for a brain!”

“Ha-ha-ha.” Nick laughed sarcastically, “You’re fucking hilarious AJ.”

“Um… why the hell was I chosen to be Toto?” Howie asked.

“Because you…”

“Shh!” Brian silenced them, “Did you guys hear that?”

They all remained silent, trying to listen in for whatever it was that Brian heard. Just when Nick was about to say that he couldn’t hear anything, they heard something rustle from behind the bushes. They all turned to where the noise came from, weapons up and ready to fire. A few seconds later, a small teenaged girl rose from the bushes, pen and paper in hand.

“What the…” Nick whispered, nothing was making sense.

“Can I have your autograph?” the young girl asked, holding her pen and paper out.

“Could someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here.” AJ whispered harshly, none of them making a move towards the girl.

Kevin turned slightly, “If I knew myself, I would’ve told ya’ll a long time ago.”

“So what do we do?” Brian asked no one in particular.

“Yeah… I don’t know if I trust her, but we can’t just kill a girl.”

“So what do you guys suggest we do?”

“I don’t know but I don’t want to…”

As the guys continued to bicker amongst themselves, they all failed to noticed that the pen that the girl was holding had now transformed into a dagger. She rose the dagger and flung it forward, heading straight for her target, which happened to be Kevin.

Nick saw this and his eyes widened, “Kevin, watch out!”

Kevin slightly turned but wasn’t able to get out of the way of the flying dagger. It slammed into his chest, causing him to collapse to his knees.

“KEVIN!” Brian screamed as he rushed to his fallen cousin’s side.

“Kill the bitch!” AJ growled as he started firing his loaded gun at the girl that killed Kevin.

Nick looked around frantically, noticing that there were more young groupies coming out of nowhere. “Shit Jay, there’s more coming!”

“So don’t just stand there, KILL THEM ALL!” AJ exclaimed as he began shooting at the girls that were slowly closing in on them.

Brian was still on the ground, trying to keep Kevin alive. Kevin was still on his knees, teeth gritting as the pain continued to wrack his body. Knowing that he didn’t want to go on with this pain until they found a flower to heal him, nor would he be any good to them injured, he slowly reached up towards the dagger and ripped it out of his chest, ending his life faster.

“NOOO!!” Brian screamed as he watched his cousin’s body crumble to the ground and disappear. He slammed his hands down on the ground where his cousin was.

All of a sudden, Kevin reappeared, standing above Brian, looking good as new. “Fuck, now I only have four lives.” he grumbled.

Brian looked up to find his cousin, who he thought was dead, standing above him. “Kev?”

Kevin looked down at Brian’s torn form, “Aww shit Bri, we told you that we could die in this game, but as long as we collect extra lives, we’ll be fine.”

Brian pushed himself up from the ground, trying to compose himself. “I don’t want to play this stupid game no more.”

Kevin sighed, “I’m sorry but…” Kevin stopped mid sentence when he noticed a fan behind Brian preparing to throw a dagger into his back. Kevin grabbed Brian by his shirt and whirled him to the side, away from the fan who was getting ready to kill him. He whipped out his gun and shot the girl in the head, causing her to drop to the ground and disappear. Kevin looked down at Brian’s shaking form, his eyes wide. “We’re stuck in this game and the only way to get out of it is to actually go through with it. So I suggest you get with it and start killing some bitches.”

They all continued killing the herds of groupies, watching as their bodies dropped like flies and disappear. When the attack came to an end, they were all left standing there, breathing heavily and the scene looking as if nothing had happened, no bodies, no traces of blood, nothing.

Nick came up behind Brian and slapped a hand down on his shoulder, “Way… to man up… Rok!”

Brian smiled meekly, too exhausted to say much of anything. Kevin, who was still breathing hard, looked his four brothers over, noticing that they were all in the same state. “Lets go… find some… flowers and we’ll… continue on.”

“Cannabis!” AJ shouted, trying to correct the older man.

“Alex, will you not?”

When they all found flowers to regain their health, they met back on the path and stared ahead, seeing a castle further on.

Howie began to nibble on his bottom lip, “I suppose that’s where we’re heading to take on the main bad guy of this level?”

AJ nodded, “Shall I… lead the way again?”

They all continued on the path, AJ leading and Kevin rounding up the back once again. Nick looked them over and chuckled, “We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz.”

“Shutup Nick!” they all shouted in unison.