Author Topic: EP721: Hustle  (Read 1308 times)

divs

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 175
on: March 07, 2020, 07:45:55 PM
Escape Pod 721: Hustle

Author: Derrick Boden
Narrator: Mur Lafferty
Host: Phoebe Barton
Audio Producer: Adam Pracht

Escape Pod 721: Hustle is an Escape Pod original.

---

Content Warning:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)



I’m all stims and grins as I kick open the door to West Precinct, strung-out bounty dangling from my headlock like a slab of vat beef with a fauxhawk. Inside, it’s the regular bullshit: a row of five tellers–one for each of the bounty app networks–a half-dozen grime-streaked auto-cuff stations, four janitors, one cop. Everyone’s hustling, of course–cobbling gig-shifts to cover backlogged tuition payments and overdue streaming services, eyes glazed and fingers flensed to bone. Everyone except the cop, who’s there to lock up after everyone bails for the evening rideshare rush. She’s a loophole, a salaried ultra-minority, a relic of pre-privatization. She gives me the creeps.

I wrangle my mark to the EpicBounty desk. “Payday, y’all.”

The teller stares at me with soulless eyes. “Name and ID.”

Her DMV monotone is the stuff of legend. Of course she recognizes me–I’m not sporting a latex halter top and violet-tuned contax to blend in. But I’m still riding the post-gig high, so I play along.

“Violetta Yamamoto–”

“Into the lens, ma’am. You know the drill.”

Of course I know the drill. I’m a five-star double elite EpicBounty hunter, two tiers shy of max. Max elites qualify for fucking health insurance. No one in King County’s amassed more rep than me since I made parole five years ago–seventy-four thousand points and counting.

But who’s counting?




Listen to this week's EscapePod.
Follow us on YouTube and Spotify!



CryptoMe

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1146
Reply #1 on: June 17, 2020, 03:30:02 AM
I really liked this story. It took me quite a while to get into, but eventually, I really got on board. I particularly liked the fact that you could see the MC's downfall coming from the sob story the cab driver gives in the opening scene, but it was still very interesting to see how it unfolded. I also liked how you thought you knew the MC was going to kill the evil rich scion, but then the MC comes up with a much more satisfying way to give the villain their comeuppance. Very skillfully done.