Chapter 2: Julia
Chapter 2
Julia
When officer Julia Jamison pulled up on the scene of the wrecked Hummer and SUV she already had her hands full. It had been a long night on the late shift. Technically she should have been off shift by midnight. It seemed that the whole world had gone crazy almost overnight, or at least that the crazies of the world were being particularly restless that night. She had more reports to deal with the night before than in the entire month prior. She was on her way back to the police station to finally put an end to the day as dawn was about to rise with two other suspects in the car who needed processing, both of them from completely different incidences. With the paperwork involved she wouldn't be getting to bed for at least a couple more hours.
These last two people were new to her. She came across Bruce when she was getting ready to head back to the station. She drove near the old Hormel plant, ironically enough as a shortcut so she could get back to the station, and to bed, quicker. Before She saw him in an alleyway standing over two bodies lying in a crumpled heap with a lead pipe in his hand, dripping with blood. She immediately came to a halt, flashed her lights, and leaped out of her patrol car with gun in hand. He surprised her by not trying to make a break for it. Instead he stood in place with his only movement being to drop the lead pipe when she commanded it.
With a quick scanning of the alley she could instantly tell what happened before he opened his mouth, even if it wouldn’t shut up afterward. It was in the way he stood. He showed none of the telltale signs of being high, but of being exhausted; of someone coming down from an adrenaline rush in a fight for their life. His expression when he first saw the police cruiser bearing down on him wasn’t that of terror or fear of being arrested, but relief. The two men lying in bloody heaps were obviously large and burly men. It made no sense that he was trying to mug them, unless he was a complete fool. As she moved closer it only confirmed her suspicions. One of the men lay prone with a gun in his hand, the other had a weapon beneath his jacket, still in the concealed holster.
These men had been the ones doing the assaulting. Of course, this didn’t make Bruce an innocent party by any means. He still could have instigated their assault on him in any number of ways, but being an asshole isn’t against the law. He may have been a sarcastic loudmouth, but he was cooperative every step of the way. The more she questioned him the more she knew that these two dead men weren’t a random mugging or strangers at a bar that he had managed to piss off.
She could tell that he lied about not knowing them and what the lot of them were doing in an alley between two abandoned buildings at three in the morning, but none of that mattered. Other officers were soon on the scene, statements were taken, photos were being logged, and the coroner van pulled up to collect the bodies. Her role in this matter was over. All she had to do now was return him to the station for processing, fill out a ton of paperwork, and likely appear in court later.
In retrospect she should have seen what was coming. All of the other officers were completely exhausted, grumpy, irritable, and constantly complaining about how crazy the night had been. The biggest dead giveaway should have been people from the coroner’s office. They had the laziest job in the whole department, in Julia’s opinion. All they had to do was show up on the scene to collect the bodies, which was exceedingly rare in this city. The majority of their work was claiming bodies from retirement homes or the hospitals. She wasn’t a fool though, she knew that they were essential to the process. She just couldn’t stand it when they pissed and moaned about their job, which seemed to be coming in spades that night.
Even dispatch sounded swamped when she called it in. Betty, who Julia knew quite well, was very short with her, and seemed genuinely irritated to hear her voice. This wasn’t very professional, and not like her at all.
On her way towards the station, Julia went through a residential district. It was a nice quiet area of middle class homes. The sun was just starting to creep around the edges with the morning light of the new day being reborn. She rolled down the window a bit to let in some crisp morning air to help wake her up, when she heard a single gunshot from the house on the corner.
She immediately put the vehicle into park and exited while drawing her pistol in one deft move. She ran towards the direction of the house where the gunshot went off and banged on the door. There was no reply aside from a dog barking within. She quickly entered through the unlocked front door, which was a relief that she didn't have to let herself in with brute force.
Sweeping through the house she finally came across the man she would later identify as Allen in his study. He sat on the floor with his back against the wall, a revolver in hand, his vacant expression staring off into space. She commanded him to drop the weapon, and he complied, barely aware of her presence. Much like the scene before she could tell right away what had transpired.
A body lay in the room in a bloody heap on the carpet. It had obviously crashed in through the double doors leading to the deck outside. With the amount of blood at the scene it was hard to determine what had killed the man first, the multiple shards of glass, or the bullet from Allen's revolver lodged in its skull. The beagle was just as oblivious to her presence as Allen was. He barked and growled at the prone body as if trying to scare it away. If it wasn't for the fact that it was so grisly and bloody, she would have found it quite funny that the dog was trying to scare away a dead intruder.
While Allen seemed out of it, she wasn't going to take any chances. She carefully picked up the revolver, checked to see that it was empty with the exception of one spent shell casing, and stuffing it in back of her belt. She checked the pulse of the body to confirm that it was dead. She had encountered plenty of dead bodies in her lifetime, more than someone of her age should, but for some reason this particular body spooked her. Maybe it was the dog still barking at it, the crime scene she had just come from, the exhaustion seeping in around the edges of her mind, or she was on edge for other reasons. As she neared the body, Julia was overwhelmed by a creepy uneasy feeling like the corpse would suddenly jump up and lunge at her like something out of a B horror movie.
She tried to convince herself that such thoughts were ridiculous because there was no dramatic spooky music playing in the background, but then immediately chastised herself for trying to make a joke of the situation. That childish voice inside of her, the one that kept her lighthearted and sane in situations like this, immediately told her to chill out. While she may have rejected this voice, like she usually did, she was still grateful that it kept her from getting overwhelmed.
She tried calling in to dispatch, but couldn't get an answer. After a quick run through of the house to make certain it was completely empty, she decided to take the man with her. She knew it was unorthodox, but didn't see any other choice, given the situation. She prodded several times to get him to come with her, but there was no response. There was no way she would get any information out of him now, he was in shock. She had seen this before in people at his level of disassociation. At best it would be several hours before he would regain his senses. With the other prisoner in the back of the squad car, doing god knows what, she didn't have that kind of time. Allen finally scooped up the dog in his arms, who immediately stopped barking, laying its head on his shoulder. He got up and followed Julia without a word or even looking her in the eye.
When she returned to the squad car she directed him into the passenger’s seat. Again, this was unorthodox but she didn't have much of a choice. There was still no response from dispatch. Bruce chimed in about how unfair it was that this guy got to sit up front when he called shotgun first, but she ignored him.
As soon as the car started to move, a report came over the radio being announced by another officer. She immediately recognized the voice as Brad. They had a history together, the kind that didn't end well. He announced a major collision on the corner of 49th and 7th, which wasn't very far away, and essentially on her way back to the station. While she did have her hands full, the least she could do was swing by and see if he needed a hand. She could tell, even over the radio, that there was something wrong with his voice. Besides, she couldn't walk away. That would be irresponsible. That would be avoiding her duty, and Julia lived for duty.
When she arrived on the scene, Julia was shocked at what she saw. The events of the last several hours didn't come anywhere near enough in comparing to the brutality of the crash. The Hummer crashed squarely into the drivers side of the station wagon with such force that the two practically merged into one vehicle. What bewildered her even more was the fact that, with the line of cars behind the scene of the crash, nobody else was in sight. All five of the vehicles, including the squad car, seemed completely vacant. While it was obvious how the collision went down, the lack of people left her completely perplexed. As she started to get out of her own vehicle, she noticed a few people peeking up from their dashboards. This night had been weird enough, but now it turned into an episode of the Twilight Zone.
When she focused her attention away from the vacant vehicles, she finally took notice of the yelling going on behind the Hummer, followed by three gunshots. For the third time in less than a day, a new record for her, she ran to the wreckage with her weapon drawn. One of the first lessons stressed when training on firearms is that you only draw your weapon as a last resort; only when you mean to use it. Many officers go their entire career without having to draw their weapon once in the field, let alone fire them.
Julia had seen some horrific things in her day, terrifying images that make horror movies look like Sesame Street. She didn't crumble under the weight of these images or was kept up at night by them. They hardened her and prepared her for the worst that life could possibly throw at her, but none of that still prepared her for what she saw as she cleared the edge of the Hummer. Like the two crime scenes earlier that day, and many before them, she could tell right away what happened, yet it made no sense to her.
Brad stood over the body of the woman who drove the Hummer. He had drug her out of the car still unconscious, thrown her to the ground, and shot her three times. It was hard to tell from Julia’s angle if the woman ever regained consciousness at all, but that didn’t seem to matter to Brad. Even though he clearly shot her three times in the chest, he continued to pummel and kick her as she lay prone on the ground, possibly dead already. He ranted and cussed unintelligibly at the woman with each blow seeming to punctuate the remark. He walked around the woman menacingly with his gun still out, looking down on her as if he was teaching her a lesson. If the woman was alive, it was impossible to tell at that moment. The only movement she gave was her body lurching with each new blow.
Julia couldn’t believe everything her eyes took in. Brad was one of the most rational and straight laced people she had ever known, which was largely why they didn’t work out. He couldn’t agree with the way she brashly handled things. Yet here he was treating a seemingly innocent person worse than the vilest of criminals. Instinct would have had her gun directly on him, but this was Brad. They had bonded together, shared secrets together, and slept together. But when she saw the look in his eye, a crazed wild eyed look she hadn’t encountered in over a decade in a far off remote portion of the world, the barrel of the pistol went immediately towards him. She didn’t know what was wrong with him, and she still cared about him despite their differences, but she knew madness when she saw it. Insanity knows no boundaries when it comes to loved ones.
“Brad, Brad,” she repeated over and over, trying to keep her tone level. Not so much to get his attention, but speaking her thoughts out loud trying to grasp the situation.
“What have you done? Why did you do this?” she pleaded.
That grabbed his attention and gave him a captive audience that wasn’t lying prone on the ground. “You saw what happened here,” he yelled, surprising Julia. “You saw what this bitch did.” With each word he spoke he pointed his gun in that direction to accentuate it, like a conductor waving his baton at the orchestra.
“No, I didn’t see what anyone did. It’s just an accident.” She tried to stall and distract him from hurting the woman any further, hoping that there might still be a chance for her. What she really wanted was to wrap her mind about what was going on, trying to make sense of it.
“Bullshit. The people in that car are dead now because of her recklessness.” At the end of each sentence he kicked the woman’s body to accentuate his point. “Her gas guzzling. Reckless driving. Pompous dressing. Over glorified. Hunk of metal.”
Finally, Julia had seen enough abuse and couldn’t stand to watch it any longer. “Stop it,” she yelled, and to her surprise she was looking past the barrel of her own gun as it was pointed directly at him.
Even Brad seemed surprised by this, yet he grinned maniacally. “You’ve turned,” his grin twisted into a malicious scowl. “You’ve gone to their side.”
“Who’s side, what are you talking about?” She asked, still confused.
“You know what I’m talking about. You of all people know what I’m talking about. People like this rape and pillage the earth taking advantage of the weak at every turn. I see it now. It’s a shame that you had to side with them when I did.”
“This isn’t how it is done, Brad. You know this. There are procedures”
“Fuck your procedures. Your way of doing things hasn’t made this world a better place. My way does.” With that he kicked the woman again.
Julia takes a step forward, the pistol aiming straight at his chest. Instead of being intimidated he laughed.
“What are you going to do about it Julia? Are you going to shoot me too? Do I not fit into your agenda?”
Julia couldn’t believe what she was seeing or hearing, but she knew what was right and wrong. She had to stop him, whatever it took. She held the pistol firmly with both hands.
“I’ll do it. Don’t think I won’t.”
Instead he laughed, “Go ahead, dear.”
Her grip tightened. Her vision blurred. “Don’t do this”.
“I’m not doing this, sweetheart,” he shouted with bitterness so foul she could almost taste it in the air. “You did this. You did it a long time ago when you chose your path over me. You won’t change now.”
“Drop the weapon,” she barely managed to shout through tears. “Don’t make me do this”.
“Too late,” and with that he pointed his weapon away from the woman’s body and towards Julia.
Despite her reservations, despite her belief that he was a good man, and despite the fact that he was possibly the only man she ever loved, instincts kicked in. Julia fired on Brad 3 times before even realizing that she had done it. He dropped backwards to the ground with a thud, the pistol still in his hand. Julia’s eyes gushed at what she had done, but the rational voice stood out like a mother consoling a small child telling her that she had no choice. That dark and self loathing instinct tried to counteract it by convincing her that she didn’t have to go straight for the kill shot, that she could have gone for the leg or even the shoulder to disarm him.
She wrestled back and forth with her emotions swirling around in her head, and tears pouring down her face in a river. She was so distraught and distracted by them that she didn’t notice that he was trying to get back up, gun still in hand.
He didn't say a word. As he stood up, she could see that the wounds he received should have been fatal. With the blood coming out of the chest wounds, he obviously wasn’t wearing his vest today. Another little voice inside tried to reason the fact that he should have been wearing his vest showed that she did the right thing in shooting him there, yet another voice reasoned that she knew he often neglected to wear his vest because he didn't like how it encumbered him. All reasoning went unheeded as she stood in terror with the realization that she may have to shoot him a second time.
“Brad, put the weapon down. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“That never seemed to stop you before, bitch,” he barely managed to get out. His voice was gurgling with blood coming out of his mouth. He wheezed as he slowly rose to his feet, likely with a punctured lung.
“You need help. Put it down and let me help you.” For the first time in Julia’s life, her pistol trembled visibly in her hand.
The events of the scene made no sense to her, but she could tell what was going to happen just by the look in his eyes. There was no rationality in them, nothing that would allow for any sense of reason. Once again he aimed his weapon towards her, but his movements were much more sluggish this time. She took aim and hit him square in the arm. Nothing happened. His arm sagged a bit and he had to struggle to regain control of the weapon using assistance of his other arm. She shot again and struck him in the shoulder. This time the weapon slipped from his grasp.
He looked down on the ground at the pistol and his fury intensified. He didn’t seem angry at the fact that she shot him repeatedly, but that he dropped the weapon and had no way with which to attack her anymore. Instead he let out a growling scream and ran towards her, his arms outstretched. His breathing was labored, one arm wouldn’t rise all the way, and he ran like a wobbly drunk chasing a beer truck, but he lunged at her nonetheless. He was out for blood without any regard for his personal safety.
Julia hadn’t expected on this happening. His sudden movements caught her off guard and her instincts took over again. She aimed for the chest again, but with the way he was leaning forward as he lunged after her she hit him square in the head instead. With a single shot he fell to the ground face down, merely a foot away from her.
Julia had to look away, horrified. There was no way he would be getting back up now. She had killed him. All of the color drained away from her face. Panic rose as she looked down at her feet to the prone body of her former lover. A multitude of emotions flooded out of her to the point that she couldn’t take it. She couldn’t stand to look at his body anymore or she would completely lose her mind.
She turned away from the grisly scene behind the Hummer, leaning on the back of the bumper. She felt it coming, but knew there was nothing she could do to prevent it. The coppery smell of his blood put her over the edge, and she vomited on the pavement. She had seen truly horrible things before that gave other people nightmares for years, but never before had she actually thrown up in the presence of violence.
As she stepped away from the Hummer, she leaned on Brad's cruiser to keep her balance. The whole world seemed to be spinning around her, and it took a moment to regain her senses. When she looked up, she could see directly into the back seat of Brad's cruiser. There was a lot of blood in the back seat that she hadn't noticed before, along with two bodies laying crumpled in the seat. From the direction of the blood splatter, Brad had shot them from the driver’s seat. Normally she would have been shocked by this, but with everything else that had happened in the last several hours, let alone the last several minutes, she quickly grew numb to it.
She didn’t have much time to recover from the reeling. As Julia looked up, she noticed that people were starting to come out of their vehicles. She didn’t want them to see her in this state. She still had to be professional. She tried to regain her composure, but was certain that all she accomplished was looking like someone who was trying to keep it together while still looking like a complete wreck. She was grateful that the majority of the vehicles were far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to see how ridiculous and pathetic she looked at that moment.
She took three deep breaths and stepped away from the cruiser towards her own, preparing to direct people away so they couldn't contaminate the scene. She hadn't made it two steps when the horrible grinding noise of the Charger accompanied by its roaring engine, could be hear coming up the street, rounding the corner, and heading directly towards her.