Three Shots

         Julia grabbed the condensation laden coffee pot and poured out the dark oily liquid into a mug and slid it over to her sister Margaret
         "Its crazy out there, did you hear?" Margaret asked while bringing the steaming mug to her mouth to gently blow on it. "They found another body. They think its one of the killers' victims."
         "Which Killer?" asked Julia. She poured her own cup and leaned with her elbows on the counter. Her dark curly hair was pulled back into a bun, still wet from the shower.
         "They haven't confirmed, but he's got the same 3 gunshot wounds as all the other '3 shot killer's' victims. One in the gut, one in the chest and one in the head. Kind of a no brainer. The cops are so dumb. The victim obviously wasn't stabbed, so figure it out."
         "Fuck. I can't believe it. You can live somewhere your whole life and never have a serial killer pop up in your locale. And suddenly we've got two of them. Crazy world." Julia took a small sip from her still steaming mug and felt the hot liquid rip down her throat. "mmm shit, I burned my tongue. Hey what time is it? I gotta jet."
         "It's a little after 8," Margaret said. "I didn't know you were working today."
         "Yea I am going to be late coming home too. I'm working the bar later when I get done at the library." Julia poured her hot mug into a thermos and screwed on the cap. "Love you sis, I will see you tonight if you are still up."
         "Doubtful, my ass will be in bed. Love you."
         "Love you too," Julia blew a kiss before tossing her jacket over her shoulders and headed out the door.
         Julia and Margaret lived in a small two-bedroom house on the east side of town. It was a hard neighborhood, but the sisters grew up in worse conditions. Julia walked the street with her headphones on as to be less approachable. She walked with purpose because in this neighborhood, if you walk around like you were lost, that's when you got robbed. So, Julia marched across the litter strewn sidewalk and made her way to the local library where she worked at the front desk.
         The library stood on the corner with tall red brick walls, streaked with grime from the rain. It had brick pillars holding up a green metal roof. The front windows were cluttered with posted flyers advertising events and local buy-sell-trade. Julia grabbed the copper handle on the wooden front door and went inside.
         She found her work at the library meaningless. It was just a front desk clerk position to pay the bills. Most of the time she felt her job was just kicking out vagrants and people wanting to look at porn using the library computers. Mostly she felt her local community was disgusting.
         She finished her shift at the library, now she had to hustle to make her shift at the bar just down the street. She found that bartending was more rewarding. Lively people to serve. Cleanse people of their worries with booze, listen to stories and get hit on by the harmless old regulars. Not to mention the pay was way better.
         She made her way to the dingy bar that sat crammed between a video rental store and a pawn shop. Half the neon in the sign on the roof was out. "Earl's Bar" now read, "rl's r". She didn't care it was falling apart. Management treated her well, wasn't creepy towards her, and the regulars tipped well enough to want to stay.
         "Hey, its Julia!" a crusty man on a bar stool said as she entered. He wore a weathered trucker hat and seemed spot welded to his stool, hunched resting an elbow on the bar.
         She rushed in and started serving behind the glossy warped bar.
         "Hey Vick," she said. "Your Coors is running low, you need another?"
         "You know I do." He said with a yellow smile.
         The locals were mostly gentle and kind to her, even if they didn't look the part.
         "Say, you hear about these killers out there? Quite the duo we got around here," Vick said.
         "Yea my sister and I were just talking about it this morning," she said as she slid a foam topped glass down the bar to Vick. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about these murders, eh?" She said with a wink.
         Vick chuckled and sipped the foam off his beer, "shoot. Look at me, there's no way someone would get close enough to me to let me get my hands on them."
         "Ah Vick, I'm sure you were a stud back in the day."
         He let out a single laugh and took a long pull from his glass.
         Julia worked through the rest of the night with mostly no drunk and disorderly. It was a run of the mill night, and she was closing the bar alone. She made her way out through the kitchen to the back door to the alley with a big black trash bag over her shoulder.
          She took in a shallow breath as the cool night air hit her. She lugged the trash bag to the dumpster in the alley and just as she did the back door slipped from its brace and slammed shut.
          "Shit!" She dropped the trash bag and rushed to the door; she banged but nothing. She remembered she was the only one closing the bar and felt foolish for a moment. She thought for a second and the only thing she was missing inside was her jacket. She had her purse over her shoulder that had everything she needed anyways. She let out a deep sigh and picked the trash bag back up, relieved that it hadn't torn open on the ground.
          The bag hit the bottom of the dumpster with a crash, and she turned around. A hand gripped over her mouth, and she got pushed with her back to the trash bin. She jerked away and attempted to run but the man grabbed her with so much force she couldn't move. She shook her head to try and get out a scream, but the assailant held her mouth tight. It was too dark to make out any features. She could see he had thin framed glasses that reflected the distant streetlight.
          "Don't fuckin move bitch," the words grinded through his teeth. "Get on your knees or ill kill you." He pulled a knife from his waste band and held it inches from her eye. It glinted with moonlight.
          Julia froze. She complied and got down on her knees. Her assailant towered over her with a grin.
          "You know who I am?"
          Julia started to cry, "I think so."
          "That's right. I've been slashing up all of you pretty little dolls, all around town." He reached for his zipper awkwardly with the knife.
          Julia's face went straight and slapped the butt end of the knife and buried it deep into the killer's groin. He let out a yelp and dropped to his knees, now eye level with Julia, her face grim.
          "You fuckin bitch, Ill kill you," he shouted.
          Julia stood back to her feet looking down on the seemingly small man as he squirmed trying to deal with the knife sticking out from between his legs.
          "You gotta be smarter than that. You fuckin idiot," she hissed.
          The man grunted in pain as he writhed.
          "I know who you are," Julia said. "Seen your shit on the news. All your victims stabbed after being played with. You fuckin make me sick." She reached into her purse and revealed a .38 special revolver. "Here's a question for you. Do you know who I am?"
          He looked up and was met with vindictive fury as the gun fired and tore a hole in his gut.
          Julia waited a beat for the ringing in her ears to fade. "I'm out here cleaning up the streets from pieces of shit like you."
          POP
          The man lay wheezing. Air escaped through the now hole in his chest. Blood bubbled up from the first hole in his gut and began to spread on the nights concrete.
          "Say goodnight bitch."
          POP
          The man's skull and brain matter splayed out in an avant-garde way. As if Julia had painted the ground with the would-be assailant.
          Julia tucked the gun away. She picked up the shell casings delicately and put them in her purse, leaving the man to lay in his own leaking viscera. She looked both ways and with no remorse, she exited the alley and headed home in the frigid breeze.