Bryan Smith - The Killing Kind

Motherfucker!

She was angry as hell, but she knew she had to chill and start dealing with the situation before it got even more out of control. She got inside the still-idling car, found the gearshift, and put it in reverse. She backed up and glanced in the rearview mirror. Some light traffic moved along South Kings Highway, but no one was approaching the drugstore. That wouldn’t last. She backed the car up and began to move it into place. She felt the body catch on the undercarriage and slide forward some, but that part didn’t go as badly as she’d feared. Turning the feet so they lay almost parallel to the ground likely had helped with that. She managed to get the cruiser parked nice and square in the space. Then she opened the door and got the hell out. Another car pulled into the lot just as she was slamming the door shut.

Her heart started trip-hammering again.

Shit! Not now!

The car was a very old and beat-up Oldsmobile. It moved slowly across the lot, almost painfully so, and eventually pulled into the handicapped space right outside the front door. Julie watched the car carefully and quickly became impatient. The driver was taking his or her sweet fucking time getting out. But a door finally creaked open and a stoopedover old lady emerged.

Julie wanted to scream. What was it with old women and their late-night trips to Walgreens?

Don’t these bitches ever fucking sleep?

The old lady shut the car’s door in slow motion and began to hobble toward the store. When the automatic door opened, Julie dropped flat on the pavement and reached under the cruiser. The rent-a-cop was dead as fuck. And was sort of all fucked-up after being run over and dragged a little bit with his own car.

She’d wanted the man’s gun, but a closer look at his holster made her screech in frustration. He didn’t have a gun. Of course not. He wasn’t a real cop. He was just some minimum-wage douche bag out for a joy ride on company time. The thing in the holster was some kind of electronic device. A Taser, maybe? Well, shit, it was better than nothing. She grabbed the device, got to her feet, and hurried back into the store.

Roxie and Rob were still arguing in the hair-products aisle.

Of course.

Roxie ceased berating Rob in midsentence and frowned. “Is that a gun?”

Julie sneered. “No, it’s not a fucking gun. It’s a fucking Taser.”

“Where’d you get a fucking Taser?”

“From the fucking guy I killed in the parking lot just now.”

Rob groaned. “Fuck. What is it with you two? Look, murder isn’t the answer to everything. Just once-”

He broke off and stared at something behind Julie. She turned around and saw Tod the manager staring at them from the end of the aisle again. But his air of smug superiority was gone. He was shaking. He held up his hands and started backing away.

Roxie laughed. “Looks like somebody heard something they shouldn’t have. I hate eavesdroppers. Don’t you, Julie?”

“Yes.”

She put her head down and charged the man. He back-pedaled faster a few steps before turning to run, but the soles of his loafers slid on the slick tiles and he fell awkwardly to the floor. His left hand hit the floor at a bad angle and snapped at the wrist. He howled in agony and rolled onto his back in time to see Julie leaning toward him. He opened his mouth to scream again, but by that time she’d already pressed the Taster to his chest. She pressed a button and thousands of volts of electricity poured into his body, making him froth and convulse. When he was done shaking, she zapped him again. And then again.

Someone grabbed her by a shoulder and pulled her away from him. “Stop that before you kill him.”

She pushed the hand away and whirled around. “That’s the point, asshole.” She pressed the Taser against Rob’s chest and savored the way his face paled. “You want some?”

Rob opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Julie pressed the Taser harder against his chest. “I hate you. I’d be having so much more fun with just Roxie.”

Roxie approached them, getting close enough to snag Julie’s attention while still keeping a safe distance. “Julie. Don’t. Okay? I know you’re upset, just…please don’t hurt him.”

“Can’t you see how weak he is? We’d be better off without him.”

The poor bastard looked like he was about to crap his pants. She came very close to shocking him in that moment. The thing that stopped her was a sudden, jarring mental intrusion. It was the recognition of what her life had become, what it was in this very moment, on the edge of this act, versus what it had been a week and a half ago. Within that very short span of time she’d gone from slightly troubled teenager studying for exams to being a person on the verge of murdering her new best friend’s lover.

It was somewhat disorienting.

She lowered the Taser and looked at Roxie. “Sorry. I know I get…out of control sometimes.”

Rob let out a shuddery sound somewhere between a laugh and a terror-stricken moan. “Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. You could say that.”

Roxie stepped between them and steered Rob away from her. “Shut up, Rob. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

The three of them started moving toward the exit.

A metallic click stopped them in their tracks. Julie turned around and saw the old lady from the beat-up Oldsmobile. She clutched a little revolver in her gnarled hands. The hammer was cocked and the barrel was aimed right at Julie’s chest.

“Y’all ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

Julie imagined a bullet ripping through her body, could almost feel the searing agony. It was too easy to imagine the messy aftermath. Those last dreadful moments as her life drained away. It was easy to imagine because she’d caused it to happen to several people now.

The old lady nodded. “Drop that zapper, you mean little bitch.”

Julie forced her fingers to open and the Taser hit the floor with a clatter, just out of reach of the grasping fingers of Tod, who’d just begun to recover from the jolts he’d received. Right now he didn’t have the strength to sit up and reach for it, but that wouldn’t remain the case for long.

Holy shit, we are as fucked as fuck can be.

The old lady smiled. “Done called the cops. We’ll just stand right here and wait for ’em, I reckon.”

Then something came sailing past Julie’s head, making her flinch. The object hit the old lady square in the center of her face and she staggered backward a few steps before letting go of her cane and crashing to the floor. Julie giggled when she saw the Clairol box hit the floor.

Robin to the rescue. It’s a miracle!

Rob had been holding the package throughout their contentious exchange moments earlier. And now he dashed forward to scoop up the old lady’s gun before she could recover it. Still giggling, she shoved Rob aside and kicked the woman as hard as she could in the stomach, eliciting a pained wheeze. “Take that, you ancient bag of fuck.” She swung her leg back and brought it forward again, driving it hard into her chest. The woman was mewling now, holding her hands up and trying to beg. Julie kicked her a few more times.

Rob’s hand on her shoulder. Again. “Maybe you could stop now.”

She pried the gun out of his hand and shot the old woman in the face.

She smiled. “Okay. Done with her anyway.”

She walked over to Tod, who had just gotten his fingers around the grip of the Taser. A bullet through the top of his head took him out of the game. She dropped the gun in her purse. “Ready to go whenever you guys are.”

She strutted outside and stood in the cool air again. She smiled at the mental image of Roxie’s shell-shocked expression. Roxie was one crazy bitch. When you had shocked the likes of her, you’d really done something noteworthy. Rob and Roxie followed her out of the store seconds later. They all got in the Tercel, with the usual seating arrangement-Rob and Roxie up front, Julie in the back.