Name: Armani Adulex
Status: Nervous; new life beginning.
Inventory: Wallet; 10mm pistol (21)
Karma: 0
Location: Wallack; referred to the Highler Ridge Taxi dispatch office.
Objective: Drive around Wallack, for customers.
Cash: $48
I drove slowly down Central Boulevard, surrounded by mobs of other taxis, all yellow, and random other commuters. I looked to the right of my car when the three lanes heading northbound were all stopped at a red light, and traffic was backed up several cars already. The vehicle to my right was a large black SUV, and in shiny chrome letters was "ESCALADE" written on the bottom side of the door. The driver's window was rolled down and showed a fake blonde gazing in the mirror of her sun visor applying lipstick to her already overly-fake face. To the left was a sleek red convertible, with the top down. A black man was driving it and he was listening to the local pop music station with the volume up mildly. He caught my gaze of admiration of his car and gave me a slight nod and a smile, which I returned.
I looked up through the taxi's sunroof at the night sky. The stars shone brightly. I was lost in them for several seconds before the glare on the windshield turned green and the cars around my own moved into life. My lane, the middle lane, was moving the quickest. Half a block down, I ended up cutting off the blonde in the Escalade so I was in the right lane, the most obvious one for a taxi looking for customers. The light on the next block turned red as well, but the car in front of me ran it and left me in the front, waiting for green. I saw a man standing just past the corner on Central Blvd, waving his hand at me. I flashed my lights quickly from normal brightness to my brights to confirm that I saw him. The light turned green and I pulled behind a vehicle in the parking lane and stopped, waiting for the man to get in.
"Hello," I squeaked, trying to be nice. It was something new I was trying, being nice to customers. After all, Giovanni had suggested it was good for earning better tips.
"Hey. 1607 Grand Avenue, please." The moment I head this, I was typing away in my computer, entering the address into Google maps and looking for directions. It made the situation awkward between the client in the back seat and I, however I was more concerned with getting him to his destination, not our momentary relationship. "I can just give you directions, if you would like," he offered.
"Sure, that'd be great... Wouldn't have to look at the laptop every few minutes," I replied.
"Pull out here and go, say, eight blocks or so." And so, peering to the side into the street, I pulled out from the parking lane. I finally reached the eighth stoplight when I heard a familiar clicking noise in the back of the car. I glanced in my rear view mirror at my customer to see there was a pistol being pointed at my head. "Be calm and I might consider letting you go. If you would like to survive the next few moments, I'd suggest you listen to my instructions, and listen to me carefully."
It was only my second day here in the city of Highler Ridge, and I was already the victim of a crime.
Poll