"Good night! Thanks for choosing me. Can I get a 5-star?"
It was a cold night in December with winter fast approaching. On a quiet road traversing a homely neighborhood was a black sedan roaming slowly.
Inside on the driver seat sat Senna Farron, the humble rideshare driver. He had just now finished driving his latest passenger to his destination: A nice and cozy suburban home.
He was about to go home for the day when his app notified him of another potential customer. Briefly debating on whether to accept it, he soon decided to do it.
One last push for the night, and all that.
"Go, drive away," the passenger threatened him at knifepoint.
"…Fuck me."
And with that exclamation, he immediately regretted not going home earlier.
"…Did you just rob that jewelry store?" Senna asked, his mind desperately trying to keep its composure.
He found out through the app that it was the pick-up location, so he hurriedly drove toward it. Something felt wrong when he couldn't find anyone in viewing distance, however.
It was then that this hoodie-clad man ran out of the building and approached his black 4th generation Avalon sedan like a man possessed.
Without any greeting or even any confirmation, the man entered the car and pulled out that aforementioned knife.
"Just go, now. Those bitches managed to call the cops."
With those hateful words as validation, Senna now fully realized the situation he managed to land himself in.
Going by the positive outlook he cultivated since childhood, he tried to negotiate and perhaps free himself from this mess with diplomacy. "How about… uh, borrowing my car and using it yourself, pal? I won't charge a fee."
"No can't do, I can't drive."
Didn't seem like it was negotiable. For shame too, it was painful for Senna to even suggest sacrificing his car. This sedan was the result of his countless hours of toil using sweat and blood—along with a healthy spending of his saving.
Sometimes he cared for it as he would his own child. Well, not like he had one or even the prospect of having one.
"C'mon, just drive man! They'll be here any second!" the robber pushed the knife closer and grabbed his jacket. He almost nicked Senna's neck.
"Easy with the knife!"
Any chance of escape was now lost on the poor driver.
«Increase in Fate Level detected. Observing…»
A soft voice reached his ears. 'What was that?' he wondered. Did he just imagine it? It didn't come from the robber, he was sure. After all, it sounded feminine.
"F-Fine! I better get a 5-star review for this."
Senna stepped on the gas and drove away. No sooner than later they heard that distinct sound of sirens in the distance.
"Why are you doing this anyway? Try for an honest job man, like me," Senna tried to start a conversation.
Might as well do that, you know? For all he knew, befriending this guy could very well be his ticket to salvation.
"You don't know anything. Life is hell for me. You know, I honestly don't want to do this either," the robber admitted. "A year ago, I found out that my kid isn't actually mine. I did the right thing and divorced her, see? But somehow the court decided I'm fully responsible for child support."
"Oh…"
"Then recently, I was getting friendly with this female coworker in the company. I thought we had something going on, you know? I was really excited. But then, she reported me to HR and accused me of harassment."
"D-Dude, like—"
"My boss wasn't happy with me. It went straight to me getting fired. What's a man supposed to do? I lost my job, my ex hounding me for money, my reputation shattered…"
"I get it, my man! You got it hard!"
As Senna regretted opening his mouth, he heard the sound of a vehicle speeding up behind him.
It was strange. The sirens still sounded far away.
"What the—"
When he checked through his mirror, he saw an unbelievable sight. Drifting around a corner, a vehicle rapidly closed in on him.
But it wasn't a police car, it was a truck! A box truck!
"Holy! What's with that truck?!"
It raced through the dark road like an F1 car on a last lap! And it didn't seem to have any intention of slowing down anytime soon.
"Is he mad?! He's going to crash into us!"
"Turn, turn right!"
The robber pointed to an intersection up ahead. Senna immediately heeded his advice and swung his steering wheel to the right.
*SCREECH*
High-pitched sounds of the tires reverberated through the night air as Senna's sedan veered. He thought that would be the end and the truck would pass by them.
It wasn't that simple, however.
"He's following us?!"
True enough, the truck also swung around the junction. And unlike Senna's pitiful excuse of a turn, it masterfully drifted like a professional race car on a track.
Just what kind of truck was it?!
It followed them for quite a while after that. No matter what road they drove onto, the truck would still be behind them. It was the most stressful night Senna ever had.
Arriving on a highway, the two vehicles were able to speed up considerably due to the wider road. Still, numerous cars they passed by unreservedly blew their horns in complaints of their reckless driving.
The calm night had turned into an impromptu racing event, at least for the two participants involved. Yet the sedan occupants still had no idea as to why this even happened at all.
"Move, move!" Senna desperately blasted his own horn and flashed the high beams to warn the vehicles obstructing the way ahead.
But while they seemed to notice the commotion behind them, their reaction was irritatingly slow.
"Shit! Pass to the left!"
"You're crazy—"
The robber's unhinged suggestion felt maniacal to his ears, but when he saw from his mirror the demonic truck getting closer by the second, it looked like there was no other choice.
Like a drunk driver with too much alcohol content, Senna abruptly swerved to the left and directly into the opposing lane. The glare from the approaching vehicles warned him of an imminent collision.
"Not today!"
Finding a gap between the cars, he managed to crisscross the deadly traffic back onto the proper lane. It was a skillful display of driving experience he accumulated over the years.
But the truck was not to be outdone! As if to mock Senna's hesitation, it audaciously copied his movement with such ease and elegance enough to make a green traffic light turn red in shame. The way it zigzagged would put it at the top spot in Monaco Grand Prix.
"Oh, come on! No truck driver could do that!"
"Leave the highway! It's too dangerous driving here!" Senna agreed with the robber's assessment and proceeded to leave at the next junction.
They entered a serene side road only for its tranquillity to be disturbed by their engines roaring across the cold night. After a while, Senna saw something that caused him to break a cold sweat.
"Look, railway crossing!" He pointed to a level crossing with no barriers ahead of them. The warning light was on.
"Cross it then!"
"That warning is there for a reason!"
But the robber had a point. The demon truck was still on their tail, and if they stopped, it was apparent they would be hit from behind like a golf ball.
So there was only one choice. It was a do-or-die situation.
*HOOONK*
The approaching train's horn blasted through their eardrums. Senna ignored it and sped up through the crossing.
"Whoooah!"
It was a close call. Like, inches close. Senna's sedan cleared the track milliseconds before the train passed.
He looked behind and saw that the truck had stopped because of the train.
At least its common sense still functioned on that level.
«Another increase in Fate Level detected. Strengthening observation…»
That voice again. Wasn't it merely his imagination before? Senna glanced around trying to find the source.
But no matter how many times he shifted his head, he couldn't find anything suspicious. Well, except for the whole situation he was currently under.
"You think we lost them?" Senna asked the robber.
"…Stop," he responded, yet the reply wasn't what he expected. "Need to get out of here…"
Hearing his words, Senna pulled over at the side of the road.
The location was far outside the city's limit because of that damn truck chasing them around. They gained an unexpected positive (?) side effect from that though, as the police seemed to have lost them.
"You sure about this?" Senna questioned once again.
This time he didn't get a response, however. The man had exited the car and wordlessly ran away.
"Wha—? Hey, you left your knife!" Indeed, the knife he used to threaten him was left lying on the passenger seat.
'What an idiot,' Senna thought about the man. While he might have sympathized with his plight, he was still a bonafide idiot, robbing a jewelry store like that.
And for all that trouble, it was doubtful that he would be getting that 5-star review anytime soon. Talk about a lose-lose customer.
"What a wild night…" He sighed. So many crazy things occurred in the span of a few minutes. When it calmed down so abruptly like this, Senna felt the exhaustion from today's work bearing down on him.
Driving back into the city, now slowly and carefully, he thought back to the voices he heard. It wasn't his imagination, that he was confident about. But then just where did it come from?
And what the heck was it even saying anyway? Fate Level?
"Nope. No idea what that even means." Senna gave up on trying to make sense of it all. He was frankly tired from his ordeal and wanted to simply rest on his warm bed.
(20:38)
A roadside clock displayed the current time. Senna stopped his car because of a red light. He then used the time to think about what would happen if the police came to him sometime soon.
What would he say? Of course, he would plead innocent and say that he was threatened at knifepoint. But would that be enough? The robber did get away because of him after all.
As he contemplated, the light turned green. Mindlessly he drove ahead to cross the intersection.
And then—A bright light shone upon him from the side. It almost blinded his sight.
«Fate Level reached the threshold. Awakening…»
Senna moved his head to the left and saw that menacing truck from before. The blinding glow had come from its headlight.
"Motherfu—"
Before the realization dawned on him, he already lost consciousness. It seemed he couldn't escape his destiny after all.