A/N:

The thought of a 'mad scientist' Logan is freaking adorable.

I don't own BTR or the characters.

"Are we lost?"

It's been seven hours since James Diamond, Kendall Knight, and Carlos Garcia set off on a road trip around California, and only now has anyone bothered to speak up about the lack of destination reaching. According to Kendall's calculations, they should have been in Fresno by now, but James is still driving down deserted road after deserted road. It worries Kendall, because he can see how totally okay with being lost James is, even though being lost on a deserted road with darkness falling is just a little unsettling. It's not that Kendall's afraid, just that there's no way he's sleeping in a car.

"No." James answers defensively and Carlos reaches around the seat to put a reassuring hand on Kendall's shoulder.

"Relax, Ken."

"Relax?" Kendall glares at Carlos in the rearview mirror, "We should be there by now."

"We're running a little late. It's just because Carlos has to pee all the damn time." James defends his driving skills with ease and Carlos looks offended. Kendall throws up a hand to stop the from arguing and pops open the glove compartment, digging around for a map and coming up empty handed. All he can find is James' hair products, which hadn't been there a few days before.

"James where's the map?"

"I took it out to make room for my stuff." James answers indifferently, "Just use your phone."

"I can't get a Wi-Fi signal!" Kendall presses the buttons on his phone uselessly, "Or a regular signal." James leans over to look at his phone, swerving into the next lane as he does, "Look out, James!" Kendall yells as the car jerks back into the proper lane and James rolls his eyes dramatically.

"No one's coming."

"Doesn't that bother you?" Kendall asks, peering out the windshield at the darkening sky. There are a few clouds, dark looking clouds, rolling over the treetops, "It looks like rain."

"We're in a car, Ken." Carlos teases, "Water can't hurt us."

"Speak for yourself," James comments bitterly, "It'll ruin my hair for sure." The car swerves again as he inspects his precious hair in the mirror and Kendall yelps, throwing a hand out towards the wheel as if he can save them all from a crash. Carlos laughs as the car straightens again and Kendall pulls his hand back, glaring at James.

"We need to be careful. I promised Mom we wouldn't die on this trip."

"And we won't, Kenny Dear." James leans back in the seat and eyes the rain clouds grumpily, "We'll be fine."

"Yeah, Ken." Carlos jumps in, "We're eighteen now! Legal adults! We can do anything!" After three months of waiting, Carlos is finally eighteen alongside his two friends, and he never misses an opportunity to mention it. Kendall still thinks they made some sort of mistake, since Carlos has yet to start acting twelve, much less eighteen. Still, it's one of the reasons he loves Carlos so much. If Carlos were responsible and paranoid, then he wouldn't be any fun.

"Whatever." Kendall mutters and settles back in his seat, "We still should have been there by now."

"Would you like to drive?" James snaps.

"Yes."

"Oh my God!" James complains, but obediently pulls over. He shifts the car into park and pulls out the key, tossing it on the dash between them with a scowl, "There you go, Mr. Driver."

"You didn't have to take the keys out, James." Kendall huffs, but smiles despite himself. He always feels better when he's the one driving, since James gets distracted and Carlos failed his test fourteen times. He would feel responsible if they crashed and James or Carlos got hurt, even if they were the ones driving. It's part of being the leader (of sorts) of their group. Lead singer of their band (Big Time Rush) and lead genius of all their pranks and schemes.

"Clearly." James replies sullen, folding his long legs into the passenger side, "Why do you have the goddamn seat up so far."

"To give Carlos room." Kendall shrugs and sticks the key in the ignition, turning it and frowning as the car only lets out a pitiful whine, "What the hell?"

"Try again." James advises, "This car is a piece of shit."

"Hey!" Carlos protests, "We bought this together!"

"And it's a piece of shit." James reiterates, "Try again, Kendall."

Kendall turns the key again and gets a softer whine in return, "Nothing." He jerks the key out and tosses it on the dash, throwing up his hands, "Absolutely nothing!"

"I guess we're sleeping in the car." Carlos states idly, "That'll suck."

"I am not sleeping in a car!" James sounds horrified at the idea, "We'll just have to walk to the nearest town."

"James it's dark! And-" Kendall winces at a low rumble of thunder and the sudden opening up of the clouds, "It's raining." James lets out a horrified yelp and disappears into the back with Carlos, moaning about his hair and how much he hates thunder. Carlos laughs at his friend, but soon whimpers at another clap of thunder, tumbling into James' arms as they huddle together. Kendall sighs at the antics of his friends and peers out at the sheeting rain.

"What are we going to do?" James' voice, ghostly in the pounding of the rain, issues from the back, "I mean, we can't stay here all night."

"What do you suggest?" Kendall demands, turning away from the rain to stare at his clinging and desperate friends, "We can't walk through this."

"Why not?" Carlos asks, "We have a flashlight."

"We'll get soaked!" Kendall reminds him, gesturing to the windows and the pouring rain, "We didn't bring rain coats or anything."

"I'm not staying in the car all night." James whines, "This road freaks me out."

"It freaks you out?"

"Yeah, it's deserted. What if there are rapists and murderers out there?" James shudders at the thought and presses closer to Carlos, "I do not want to be raped, murdered, or both."

"Both?" Carlos whispers, completely terrified, and Kendall gives James his best "Look what you started" face.

"No one is going to rape or kill or maim us." Kendall reassures the shorter boy, noting James' scoff as he does. He doesn't give the pretty boy a chance to complain though, because he knows how bad James can be and, honestly, he doesn't want to have to deal with it, "Just go to sleep." He instructs and jumps at a particularly loud bit of thunder.

"I can't!" Carlos complains as Kendall scrambles into the back with his friends, "It's too scary out here!"

"But, 'Litos, we're legal adults now." Kendall says desperately, "We can do anything."

"I lied." Carlos responds instantly, "We can't do this." James nods eagerly beside him and Kendall smacks him on the back of the head, getting Carlos in the process, which starts an all out war. They roll and tumble around the back, yelling and pinching and slapping to the best of their ability in the confined space. Kendall is on top of James, pinning his hands above his head, when there's a knock at the window. Instantly, all three boys are screaming and flailing and falling. Kendall ends up on the bottom of a pile of limbs and torsos and everything else imaginable with a sneaker that has to belong to Carlos in his face.

"What are you?" James yells, fear making his voice crack, and a shadowy figure moves from the driver's side window to the passenger side window. A face presses against the glass and Kendall's heart stops as something, or someone, looks in at them. He's expecting some sort of creepy, monster voice, but instead he hears someone laugh. There is a man laughing outside their car.

"Hello?" He calls tentatively and the figure disappears.

"Oh my God." James whispers, "What was that?"

"It was a 'who' not a 'what'." Kendall corrects, shoving Carlos' foot out of his face, "And he was laughing at us."

"It was laughing?" Carlos demands, pushing himself off of Kendall with a well aimed blow to Kendall's kidney. Kendall lets out a strangled "oof" and allows James to help him up.

"He was laughing, Carlos." He snaps, "It was a man."

"Rapist!" James cries and promptly falls back on the floor, "I'm too young to die!"

"I thought he was a rapist?" Carlos eyes the pretty boy angrily, "Which is it?"

"It's Ted Bundy!" James continues his rant, "And he's going to rape and kill us all!" It comes out shrill and frightened and Kendall knows they've reached their breaking point. If James goes insane, Carlos will soon follow, and then there's no way they'll make it to Fresno. Thinking quickly he grabs James by the front of his shirt and heaves him onto the seat, pointing at the doors.

"Look!"

"What?" James stares at the doors, "Is he back!?"

"They're locked!" Kendall points out, "No one and no thing can get us."

"People break into cars all the time." Carlos whimpers, "My dad sees that all the time."

"We'll hear them." Kendall sighs, "And we'll do something about it."

"And what if we don't?" James demands, "What if they're magic or something?"

"Then we'll die like me." Kendall states simply, "And we'll be a lesson for other people."

"What lesson?"

"Fresno is not seven hours away from LA."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep." Carlos sighs, "And I really want to sleep."

"Maybe we should take turns playing look out?" James suggests, "We can do three hour shifts."

"That sounds good." Kendall agrees, "Who goes first?"

"Not it!" James and Carlos high five as they get the words out at the same time and leave Kendall to take first watch. He rolls his eyes as they curl up in the seat, James eventually falling into the floor and smiling in his sleep. It's nearing midnight and Kendall can feel the exhaustion pulling at his eyelids as he desperately tries to stay awake. The storm evens out and the rain lightens up, becoming a peaceful thrum on the hood of the car. Carlos snores in his sleep and Kendall begins to forget the laughing man and the rapists and murderers of James' imagination. Instead, he thinks about LA and Big Time Rush and how fun this road trip was supposed to be.

When he drops off to sleep, he doesn't give a second thought to anything happening.

And when he's asleep, he's powerless to stop anything that does.