Businesses, slums and even a new face

Sunset Hills is known as one of the larger towns in the state. There are bigger ones, but no other town in the whole east of the United States has such a high level of social imbalance. People like your father live in the western part of with large plots of land with pools, fresh grass and enormous mansions. People, who have more money than is good for them. Every one of them builds his own kingdom in his home with private security to protect their own law.

Much more people live in downtown. Normal people who work normal and follow normal laws with a normal amount of crime and police. There are also most businesses in downtown. But the further east you go, the skyscrapers and shops lose their luster. Streets become crumbling, facades show damages and people stare at you and the car as if you murdered their parents.

The largest part of the population lives in the slums. Poor factory worker, shop clerks and other poorly paid people live close together in shady apartments, huts or are homeless. The whole area is full of gangs, guns and ****. The police only comes here with the SWAT. And even then, only for very important targets, missions or crimes.

You and Eric enter Sunset hills through one of the slums. Surrounded by dirt and people who look like they would kill you for your shoes, you feel like something tries to squeeze you. Even Eric is under pressure, even if it is not as worse as in your case.

“Don’t worry,” Eric says and tries to sound calm, “the guys here know this car and the license plate. Nobody sane would dare to get in our way. But … not all people here are sane.”

To your luck you soon leave the slums without any trouble. The traffic increases quickly and you find yourself in streets full of people, shops and even a few parks. It takes a while to drive through downtown. The area is smaller than the slums, but has five times as much cars. When the skyscrapers disappear and cute family houses appear on the side, you know you are almost at the west end of the town. And very soon, the houses get bigger and bigger. When you arrive at a street with huge mansions, big enough for ten families, the car suddenly stops. A young police officer around your age has stopped Eric. It seems he is guarding the street with the richest people in town. Corruption is clearly not that rare in this area. However, the officer looks quite handsome. His shot hair, calm brown eyes and the patrol uniform let him look like a guy you would trust.

“Good afternoon, sir,” the young officer greets you two, “may I see your driver’s license and vehicle documents. What is your business in the area?”

“I’m working for Mr. Pike,” Eric says and hands the officer his driver’s license, “and I’m driving his daughter.”

“Didn’t knew he has one,” the officer says and walks over to your window, “you don’t look like you belong in this area. No designer shoes, no expensive jewelry, even your phone is an old model. May I see your ID-card too, please.”

Eric looks a little impatient when you hand the officer your card. You already open the mouth to say something when the officer suddenly nods and gives you the card back. And there is a small piece of paper on the backside.

“Everything looks fine,” he informs you, “you can go. Have a nice day.”

Eric nods a little surprised and drives off. You decide to hide the paper from him until you know what it is. Carefully you hide it in your packet.

“This guy must be new,” Eric says and stops in front of a gate made of steel bars, “your father has half of the police on his payroll. So the cops either stay away from his cars or search it with argus eyes. But this … this was the most normal control I had since I started working for him.”