“Jared, you’ll love this game!” Shannon handed his little brother a game wrapped in plastic: Resident Evil 4. “It’s so fun. And so cool! You just run around and shoot things and it’s SO easy!”

 

            “Isn’t this that zombie game? Where things attack you?” Jared accepted the game, flipping it over to read the back.

 

 

            “No,” Shannon quickly took it back, unwrapping it. “This is the game where you shoot things and get points. Like… like… Deer Hunter. Things just run. It’s so cool.”

 

 

            “Really?”

 

 

            “Yeah. You’ll love it!” Shannon proceeded to take the game out and pop it into the tour bus PlayStation 2. He handed his little brother the controller before turning the lights in the bedroom off and taking a seat at the head of the bed.

 

 

            Jared was on the edge of the foot, staring wide-eyed at the TV.

 

 

            “Resident Evil 4.” The game growled at Jared.

 

 

            He giggled. “This’ll be fun.”

 

 

            Shannon smirked, crossing his legs. “You have no idea.”

 

 

            “Hey, guys. What’s--”

 

 

            “Shh, Tomo…” Shannon patted the bed next to him. “Jared’s gonna play RE4. You know, the calm, shoot-only game?”

 

 

            The Croatian smirked, shaking his head. “The calm, shoot-peaceful-zombies game?”

 

 

            Shannon smiled, nodding.

 

 

            Jared giggled again. “Yay!”

 

 

            Shannon scooted up and took the controller, skipping all the video scenes. When all you could see was a third person view of woods and Leon, he handed the controller to Jared. “Here, bub.”

 

 

            “Ooo, sexy.” He rolled the analog stick of the controller, turning Leon in a circle. Leon’s circles got faster as Jared’s finger weighed heavier on the analog stick. “Wow, I feel like a serial killer.” He widened his eyes, frowned, and turned Leon faster. “Preety… Oh so preety… Very very preety…” He giggled and clicked R1. A red laser appeared on the screen with a dot at the end. “Whoa!”

 

 

            “Click ‘x’, Jar.”

 

 

            Jared was obedient, clicking the ‘x’ button on the remote controller while still holding down R1. A sharp ‘pop’ startled him. “Fire power!”

 

 

            Tomo snickered, nudging Shannon. “Shanimal, don’t you think he should run forward before his time expires?”

 

 

            Jared turned from the screen, looking at his two band mates. “My time expires?! Why the hell didn’t you tell me?!”

 

 

            “Just run, Jar.” Shannon could barely speak without bursting into laughter. “Run like the wind.”

 

 

            Jared pushed the up arrow on the controller. Leon started slowly walking forward. “Faster, you bastard! You’re gonna expire!”

 

 

            “Uh, Jared?” Tomo crossed his arms, wiping tears from his eyes. “Push ‘square’ while you do that…”

 

 

            “Oh,” Jared stated happily. He directed Leon to run up the path and intently watched the cut scene once he approached the house. “Ooh! Movie! There’s people in there!”

 

 

            Shannon stifled a laugh. “Yeah, Jar… go talk to him.”

 

 

            “Ooh!” Jared giggled as he flashed another cut scene and came face to face with his first attacker. “Dude,” Jared’s voice got tense. “I think…he wants me.”

 

 

            Shannon covered Tomo’s mouth to stifle the Croatian’s laughter. “He does, Jar. How about you give him a kiss?”

 

 

            Jared guided Leon closer to the zombie, but the second the zombie showed signs of aggression, Jared bolted from the house. He screamed as he slammed his finger down on the analog stick, spinning Leon in a circle as the zombie attacker followed. Because Leon moved so much faster than the zombie man, Leon was lapping the zombie as he looked around, trying to identify his fresh meat.

 

 

 

            After an hour and a half, with Jared still running in circles, and both of his band mates nearly asleep, Jared continued screaming. Finally, Shannon took the remote from Jared, sniped the zombie in the head, and returned it to his brother. “Christ…”

 

 

 

            As Jared approached a quiet town, Shannon nudged Tomo. “Here,” the older Leto whispered to his friend as he watched his little brother run happily into the center of the first infested site.

 

 

            “Pop, pop,” Jared giggled as he randomly shot in the direction of some undisturbed zombies. To his shock, the zombies turned to him and began stalking their way to his position. Jared instantly paled. “OH MY GOD,” his eyes widened as a farmer’s wife grew closer and closer, her eyes dead.

 

 

            “Shoot, Jar!” his brother encouraged.

 

 

            Jared shot at the woman, seven times, without hitting her once. It was then he realized he was completely out of ammo. “WHAT?!” he shrieked, listening to the sound of trigger-on-nothing. “ALREADY?!”

 

 

            “Run, Jared!” Tomo reminded him as the crowd of stalking zombies grew.

 

 

            Jared ran through the town, around the buildings, until he thought no one was looking for him anymore. He breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into the door of one of the village houses. “Ooh, nice place,” he commented as he looked around.

 

 

            The sound of a chainsaw emitted through the air, and a light hissing sound could be heard from somewhere, though Tomo and Shannon couldn’t tell where. Jared’s eyes, wide as saucers, began to fill with tears as he saw the zombie with a bag on his head. The man was running towards Leon with a chainsaw, though Jared was trying to maneuver away.

 

 

            Tomo and Shannon erupted in laughter as the chainsaw came down upon Leon’s head, and Jared emitted a high-pitched shriek only matched by female opera singers. The controller flew from Jared’s hand, straight into the center of Shannon’s top-of-the-line digital TV. “NO!” Jared screamed, folding his arms over his eyes and collapsing to the floor.

 

 

            “My…my TV…”

 

 

            Tomo put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, now staring at the funny shaped dark mark where Jared had been sitting on the bed.

 

 

            “I’m done,” Shannon sighed as he got up from the bed and started for the door. “This was a stupid idea.”

 

 

            “No, dude!” Tomo yelled as he ran after his friend. “I’ll buy you a new TV!”

 

 

            Jared’s sobs ended as he ignored the warmth in his pants and raised his head. “I get it.” His voice was an awed whisper. “I am Leon!”

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