Spoilers: The Harvest
Content Rating: 12
Type: Other
Characters: Josie, Ally, Greg
Summary: Josie is persuaded to have a night out...and it's a night she'll never forget.

Josie squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that what she had seen was a terrible dream that she couldnÂ’t wake up from. No matter how much she tried to control it, the images kept replaying through her head, slowly driving her towards total break downÂ…

It had started out as a normal enough day. Josie had arrived at school and met up with Greg and Ally, both of whom pleaded with her to go to The Bronze after school. Josie didnÂ’t really like the Bronze. It was in a bad part of town and people had a habit of going missing around there. The music was okay and Dingoes Ate My Baby, a good band from school, very often played there, but there was something about the place that Josie didnÂ’t like. Nevertheless, with enough prodding from Greg and Ally, she agreed to go along, just for a while.
Despite the fact that she wasn’t really looking forward to going, Josie spent ages getting ready. She wasn’t the type of girl to dress like a tramp just to try and pick up a guy, but she was attractive and liked to play to her strengths. She was slim and quite tall, with long legs and a pert ass that she knew the guys at school liked to watch walk down the corridor. By the time she was ready, Ally and Greg were on the doorstep waiting for her. Ally was slightly younger than Josie and it showed in her face. She was shorter than Josie and slightly overweight, but not unattractive. People said she was ‘huggable’, which she absolutely hated. Greg was, to most people that didn’t know him, a Football Jock. He was 6’4”, made of muscle and was a very popular football player on the school team. Josie and Ally had known him since they were only little though, and knew that he wasn’t just a mindless statue of muscle, but a very intelligent and thoughtful guy. What an odd phenomenon, they joked.
The three grabbed a coke each from JosieÂ’s MumÂ’s refrigerator and jumped into GregÂ’s car. Greg always drove because he didnÂ’t drink. His football coach had banned the entire team from drinking, much to the teamÂ’s dislike. When they arrived, Greg parked up and the three made their way into The Bronze. The Bouncers on the door queried AllyÂ’s age, just like they always did. And as always, she got out a piece of I.D. and put them in their place. As they went to get a drink, Josie and Greg teased her about her young appearance.
“Come of, let’s dance,” suggested Ally excitedly, grabbing Josie and Greg by the arms.
“Oh no you don’t! I came, but I’m not dancing,” replied Josie, taking back control of her arm.
“Have it your way then,” shouted back Ally as she made her way to the dance floor with Greg who shrugged his shoulders and smiled back at Josie.
Picking up her drink from the bar, Josie made her way to a table. The table was circular, with a pillar through the middle, so there wasnÂ’t a lot of room on it, but The Bronze didnÂ’t serve food, so it didnÂ’t matter too much. Turning to look at a scuffle that was taking lace at the door, Josie cringed. Several men and a couple of women came through the door, but their faces were deformed. Their foreheads came down to a sort of point that overhung their faces, their eyes were yellowy and they all had fangs. Josie laughed and thought to herself that someone must be playing an early Halloween trick, but just as she turned back to her drink there was a scream. When she turned back to look, she saw that one of the deformed men was biting a big hole in some guyÂ’s neck. JosieÂ’s voice joined the screams.
When she stopped screaming, she realised that one of the monsters had a hand around her neck and was dragging her over to the dance floor. It certainly didnÂ’t want to dance. When everyone had been grouped together on the dance floor, one of the monsters took the stage and began spouting a speech about The Master and The Harvest. Then he asked for something to eat. One of the creatures that was obviously subservient, went into the crowd and grabbed somebody. When they got onto the stage, Josie let out another screamÂ…
“GREG!!!”
The monster had chosen Greg as his meal. When it went to bite Greg though, Greg fought back. Throwing all his muscle into it, Greg punched the creature hard in the gut. But the creature was unhurt. In fact, it stood and laughed. Then it grabbed Greg by the head and sunk itÂ’s fangs into GregÂ’s neck, drinking his blood. When he had finished, he threw GregÂ’s limp body into the crowd, causing another bout of frightened screams.
Suddenly remembering Ally, Josie looked around for her. When she found her, she let out another scream. Ally was laid sprawling on the floor. She looked quite peaceful, except her neck was bent at a funny angle and her chest wasnÂ’t moving at all. Josie knelt by her and frantically tried to wake her, screaming her name as tears blinded her. Then there was a loud crash and some shouting and Josie turned to see a girl she recognised from school, Buffy Summers, Josie thought. But this girl wasnÂ’t being eaten by the monsters, she was killing them. Then there were hands on JosieÂ’s shoulder and she turned to hit some nameless creature, but the person she saw was the school librarian, Mr Giles.
“What is going on?! What are those things?” Josie asked in between sobs.
“Hooligans on drugs, that’s all. Now come on, we’ve got to get you out of here,” and with that, she was ushered out of the building with everyone else. The last thing she remembered seeing was Buffy Summers killing one of the creatures with a musical instrument, while Xander Harris and Willow Rosenburg helped get people out.

When she opened her eyes, Josie let out a sob. It hadnÂ’t been a dream at all. SheÂ’d spent weeks in therapy and shed still saw everything over and over in her mind whenever she closed her eyes. She couldnÂ’t sleep, she couldnÂ’t even close her eyes to keep out the sun. And Greg and AllyÂ’s killers had never been found. The papers said they had been drugged up gang members and that they had fled leaving no trace because they had been wearing masks.

Josie just laid down her head and cried herself to sleepÂ…