Taxi Assault first draft

Taxi Assault

Andrew is driving his taxi down a deserted street in the suburbs of Invercargill around 2 am on a Sunday morning. He was a younger man around 30 years old and receding brown hair and bloodshot blue eyes.

It had been a busy Saturday night shift and the RT (radio telephone) had been relentlessly barking out addresses and pick-up instructions non-stop for at least the past three hours. Andrew yawned and blinked rapidly a few times to alleviate the tired heavy feeling around his eyes and braked the taxi to a stop at a set of traffic lights. He was feeling tired after a week of twelve-hour shifts and at least 5 hours of constant driving.

As he pulled away from a green light he cursed quietly and quickly picked up the RT mic from the dash. He spoke tiredly into the handpiece. "Seventeen clear town." A pause from the dispatcher and then a few seconds later an older male voice came on the RT. "Seventeen. Players in Tay St." Andrew acknowledged the address given out for another fare. "Player's tar."

He drove the late model Toyota Camry with its taxi livery down the street a few blocks and then pulled over outside a night club with party goers milling around outside. Andrew looked carefully around the outside of the car and scanned the rear-view and wing mirrors. Personal experience told him to be on the lookout when crowds of potentially heavily intoxicated people were around.

Suddenly the doors on the taxi were ripped open and three young men roughly jumped in.

One was dressed in a rugby jersey and wore his hair in a ponytail and the other had a black t-shirt with a heavy metal band logo emblazoned over it. Andrew was unable to get much more of an impression of them because of the darkness in the back of the cab. However, it was the man that was sitting in the front seat that grabbed the most attention. Instinct from previous experience warned Andrew to be on guard.

He was a young man with ginger hair and a ginger beard over the top of a pale face. He had pale blue eyes with unfocused pupils in them. He laughed suddenly and spoke abruptly. "Where are the sluts at mate!?" Andrew groaned inwardly. It was going to be one of "those taxi customers."

Andrew replied. "I don't know chief the rest of towns gone quiet. You might be better to stay here." Hoping he could get rid of this guy in short order and move onto a better fare. Preferably a quiet, sober one.

The guy was increasingly giving Andrew cause for concern. He was fidgeting restlessly and didn't look very "with it." Andrew had a suspicion that the guy was on more than just alcohol. He knew the worst thing in the early hours of a night shift when tired was dealing with people that had the mental capacity of a mushroom due to drugs or alcohol.

Andrew reached forward and pressed a button to start the taxi metre. The figure of $3.80 appeared in bright red digital numbers. One of the men exclaimed from the back seat. "Fuck mate. We don't want to buy the car! We haven't even moved anywhere."

Andrew sighed and rubbed his forehead he knew this was going to ruin his night.

"Oh well it's just the flag fall, it's the same for everyone when you get a taxi. Now where you guys headed?

The drug addled young man in the front seat wasn't going to let the cost of the taxi fare go, however. "Ooh we have a grumpy driver aye you boys. I don't like taxi drivers there all old rip off arseholes. We want to have a good time tonight mate so don't rip us off!"

Andrew replied trying to keep calm. "Walking's free mate. I'm just doing my job. I don't make the prices I just drive the car."

"The guy stopped and stared vacantly for a second then burst out laughing unsteadily. "All good aye? We want to go to the Road Knights headquarters. Go have a beer with them."

"Alright." Andrew put the taxi in gear and eased it out onto Tay St. One of Invercargill's main streets. The ginger headed guy in the front seat continued to ramble on to Andrew about their night out on the town in Invercargill city. Not really making a great deal of sense. Andrew just made non-committal sounds of agreement of "Mm hmm" and "Oh yeah." A common response of taxi drivers working long hours late into the night, meant to placate and lull a drunk or drugged passenger, while not really having to concentrate on the conversation. Andrew kept one eye occasionally on the two young men in the back seat through the rear-view mirror. They were quiet enough while the ginger guy kept talking nonsensically.

The taxi was cruising quietly at the speed limit getting close to the drop-off destination when suddenly, the drugged guy reached down with his right hand and ripped the cars hand brake up. The rear wheels of the car locked up instantly with loud squealing coming from the car's tires. The car came to a stop in the middle of the road with the haze of blue tire smoke drifting past the windows of the vehicle. Andrew had been taken completely by surprise with all this happening. Shocked he shouted angrily at the drugged guy. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE DOING?!"

Andrew was intent on giving the ginger headed guy his pedigree when the two in the back seat men shoved the doors of the car open and jumped out. The ginger guy opened his door and got out as well. Andrew was speechless with rage. The redhead reached across. "I have something for you." He punched Andrew in the face underneath his left eye and slammed the door. The three men walked off down the street.

Andrew watched them go in a state of shock. He shook his head snapping out of it. He quickly reached down beside the steering wheel fumbling with his left hand for the cars RT microphone. "Seventeen here! I have just been assaulted!"

Andrew could here the shock in his own voice as he radioed the taxi dispatcher in the company depot. The dispatchers voice cut in loudly over the other driver's voices on the radio. "Where are you seventeen?"

"I'm on the corner of Balmoral Drive and Clyde Streets!" Andrew replied shakily.

The dispatcher puts out a general request for all the taxi drivers listening on the party line of the RT. "Ok, is there any other cabs close by that could help seventeen out? Just stay there Andrew we will get the police sent around to you."

"Roger that." Andrew hangs up the mic. A few moments go by before a pair of headlights abruptly appear around the street corner. Andrew breaths a sigh of relief, reassured by the sight of a van with the bright blue Taxi sign on illuminated above the headlights.

The van screeches to a halt and tall man with a scruffy ginger beard jumps out. He strides over to Andrew's taxi and flings open the front passenger door. "You alright Andy mate? Get belted, did you?"

Andrew points to his eyes. "Yeah, Ricky the prick just poked me in my eye just as he was getting out. I'm alright though."

Ricky looks around the quiet darkly lit city street. "Where did the bastard go?"

Andrew points with his head through the car windscreen. "Off through the trees over there, into the park."

Just then another taxi, travelling fast comes hurtling down the road. The driver notices the two parked vehicles and breaks suddenly. The taxis worn out breaks screeching piercingly as it pulls up next to Andrew's car.

The driver winds the passenger window down to speak. He is a middle-aged man with long grey/blonde hair and a craggy face with deep rings under heavy bloodshot eyes.

"You still in one piece?" he asks gruffly without preamble. Andrew replies through the open car window. "Yeah, I'm not too hurt thanks Kieran. Just a shock to be struck more than anything. Just some drugged up idiot from Players."

"Ah what have I told you about going to that turd of a place? You get every gormless nitwit and drugged up clown that God ever saw fit to blow wind into!"

Andrew smiles ruefully at Kieran's dry wit. "Yeah, I know. I was just trying to get a quick hail though. Hasn't gone my way tonight."

"Well, it certainly hasn't now." Kieran scoffed. "You'll be tied up here for an hour with the bloody plodds!"

Ricky who has been leaning over the front passenger seat of Andrews taxi speaks to Kieran. "I hear the cops are busy out on the main highway tonight. There's been a car accident." "Is that right?" Kieran replies and then looks back at Andrew. "Which way did the bastards scarper off?"

"Through the trees and into the park probably." Andrew replies tiredly.

Ricky looking at Kieran breaks into the conversation in a serious tone. "We should drive through the park. See if we can flush these little shits out.."