BRIGHT

MAY, 2019

The Gabriel Motel is a 3-story motel that was once a well-maintained hotspot for visitors that has long since been abandoned. The motel is structurally sound but is in poor condition. Late one night, a group of 9 men have taken residence there, hiding out from the cops they robbed a liquor store and killed the owner. A few blocks away a car pulls into an alley before coming to a stop. A woman steps out of the car, dressed in a black jumpsuit and wearing a gas mask with the visor tinted black. She is wearing leather gloves and has black boots on. The woman goes to the trunk of the car and pulls out a duffle bag, which she slings over her shoulder before closing the trunk as she proceeds to make her way to the motel.

At the entrance to the motel is a single man in the doorway, carefully looking around. The woman goes to the alley behind the motel and carefully sneaks in through a broken window. The inside of the motel is in poor condition. The walls are peeling, the carpet is torn and the door frames are broken. The woman pulls a fire poker from her bag. The fire poker is a normal, metal poker with the end been sharpened. The woman takes off her glove and places her hand on the tip of the poker and after a few seconds, she begins heating it up. After a couple of seconds, the tip of the poker is a bright red. The woman puts the glove back on, crouches down and slowly begins walking up to the man by the doorway. Once she is close to him, she stands up and winds her arms as back as far as she can, before plunging the poker through the man’s head. The man slightly shifts but stops once the poker goes straight throw. The woman removes the poker and carefully lays the man down to the floor. A small pile of blood begins forming as the woman drags the body behind the service desk and leaves him there.

The women proceeds to go up the first flight of stairs and upon reaching the second floor she can hear 2 men talking at the far end of the hall. She slowly walks past each room, checking inside to make sure there isn’t anyone else. The closer she gets, she is able to hear the conversation they are having.

“We should’ve put a bullet in that cashier” one of the men said

“Not this again” the other man replied

“What if she survives huh? What if she tells the police on us?”

“She won’t survive, trust me. You saw her, she was unconscious in a pile of blood. No one is surviving that and if she did, we’ll be long gone before the police ever find us”

“For our sake, I hope you’re right”

The woman was right outside the room and pulled out a knife from her bag, before removing her glove and lightly grasping the blade and heating it up, making the metal grow a bright red. The woman put her glove back on and waited for the right moment to strike.

“I’m going to change shifts with Brendon” one of the men said as he got up. The woman ducked into another room. Once the man walked by her room, the woman continued to creep behind him as he made his way down the stairs.

“Brendon?” the man quietly called out but received no response

“Brendon, where are you?” the man continued calling. He was about to call out again before he noticed a pile of blood by the entrance with a trail that leads to the desk. Before he could react, the woman reached up behind him and slit his throat with the knife. The woman put the man in a headlock as he began trying to stop the bleeding. The man tried prying her arms away, but gradually got weaker and weaker until he stopped moving. Once the man was completely still, the woman moved his body next to Brendon and laid him there, before continuing back upstairs. The woman walked back normally, making her footsteps a bit louder.

“So, how are things looking out there, Brendon” the man said as he was looking at his cards as he shuffled them. The woman stepped into the room and quickly began making observations. The room was small, with a double bed in the middle of the room and a small table and chair in the corner, where the man was. Next to the man was a baseball bat lying against the corner wall and on the dresser was a backpack. The woman remained quiet as she continued her observations.

“What’s the matter, why aren’t you tal-“ the man stopped mid sentence when he looked up and saw the woman standing in the room, covered in blood. The man and woman stared at each other silently. The man quickly moved out of his chair to reach the baseball bat as the woman quickly rushed over to him. The man picked up the baseball bat and turned but before he could swing the woman jammed the poker into his eyes and covered his mouth, muffling his screams as he dropped the bat. The woman punched the man in the throat, stifling his screaming as she removed the poker and threw it away, before grabbing his shirt and throwing him against the table. The man hit the table, before rolling off it and onto the ground landing on his back. The woman picked up the baseball bat and turned around as the man began crawling backwards. The woman stomped her feet on the man’s knee, pinning him in place as she began winding up the bat, before using all her force to swing the bat across the man’s face. The swing was strong enough to spray blood onto the wall as the man was knocked out. The woman lifted the bat up once more and brought it back down multiple times, eventually caving his face in.

“Hey Mark, everything alright!?” a man called out as the woman heard 2 sets of feet rushing down from the third floor. The woman dropped the bat, took off her bag and laid it on the bed, before pulling out a bottle of alcohol with a towel that was partially inside it. The woman removed her glove, grabbed the tip of the towel and set it on fire, before winding her arm back up and making a strong stance. The moment the first man popped threw the doorway, the woman tossed the bottle directly at him, engulfing him in fire.

“AHRGHGHHH” the man began screaming as he was lit up. The glass shards from the impact went into his eyes and the man was desperately flailing, trying to put himself out as the fire continued to engulf him. The impact from the bottle made the man stumble against the wall and slowly began sliding down.

“Fuck!” the other man shouted in shock as he took a few steps back as the man on fire was laying on the ground, making erratic movements. The woman walked past the man whilst putting her glove back on and stepped over him. The man turned to begin running away as the woman gave chase. Before the man could reach the staircase, the woman was right behind him. With another glass in hand, the woman smashed it over the man’s head. The man dropped to the ground, mildly dazed as the woman grabbed the man’s right arm and neck, before lifting him up and dragging him over to the window at the end of the hall. She smashed his head through the window, and then a few times on the windows still until he was knocked out. The woman took one glove off and used both arms to lift the man and hurl him out the window. The man rolled off the window still and crashed into a dumpster underneath the window, making a loud metal thud as his body landed inside. A small fire began emitting from inside the dumpster. The man in the hallway stopped moving.

“Barricade the door!” the woman heard upstairs as rapid footsteps and movement could be heard. The woman put her hand on the floor and a small fire began to spread. That fire, along with the man who was lit on fire began to rapidly spread the fire throughout the building. On the third floor were 3 men who were held up in a room. Tony locked himself in the bedroom, armed with a handgun as the other 2 men had a bat and a knife. One of the men put the table against the door, blocking it off. The woman waited a few minutes until the building was a blazing inferno before she began making her way up. The heat and smoke had no effect on her as she moved with ease. The men began coughing as the fire started rising. The woman was standing right outside the door and with a hard kicked, managed to slowly pry the door open. After a few more kicks the woman managed to knock the table out of the way with the door. The 2 men were on the ground, coughing their lungs out as they were struggling on the floor. The woman walked over to one of the men and pulled out her fire poker. She got to her knees and held the poker in her hand like a spear, before rapidly stabbing the man multiple times. The man let out short grunts as he was on the verge of passing out before she impaled the poker into his head, silencing him. The other man was attempting to crawl away until the woman walked over to him and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to roll over onto his back. The man offered no resistance as he laid in pain, with troubled breathing. The woman pulled out her knife and stabbed the man in the chest. After a few seconds, the man stopped moving, the woman removed the knife from his chest and put it back in her bag. With the rest of the men gone, the woman went to the bathroom door and pulled on the handle but it was locked. She could heard coughing coming from inside the bathroom, followed by the sound of grass breaking. The woman immediately rushed back to the bottom of the motel and straight to the back alley, where she saw Tony, laying in a pile of broken glass in agony as he was coughing his lungs out. Through his burned eyes the man could make out the figure of the woman and began trying to crawl away but he struggled with even sitting up right. The woman casually strolled up to him and kicked him in the face, making him stop moving. The woman rolled Tony over onto his back and kneeled down, digging her knees into his chest, pinning him down as Tony made soft grunting noises.

The woman slowly began impaling the poker into the Tony’s eyes as he began strained screaming. Once the poker was lodged into his eyeball, the woman pulled it out, taking the eyeball out of the socket and ripping off the optic nerve. The woman takes off her glove and jammed her thumb into the Tony’s eye socket, starting a fire inside his eyes as the Tony continues screaming. Eventually the screaming comes to a stop as Tony stops moving, his body being covered entirely in fire. The woman rushes back to her car and undresses, putting her outfit into a plastic bag and getting changed into regular clothing that consists of blue jeans and a red shirt. She gets in her car and drives off, minutes later firefighters arrive at the scene and begin to hose down the flaming building.

The next day, the woman goes to a hospital to visit her friend.

“Hey Sizzy” Amanda says with a very strained throat as she attempts to sit up. Amanda is covered in multiple bruises with various bandages covering her stab wounds, a head wound and a black eye.

“How’s it going?” Sizzy asks as she takes a seat near Amanda

“I feel much better than yesterday, I can properly breathe again”

“I’m glad to hear it”

“On the plus side, I get a few days paid leave, so there’s an upside to this” Amanda says, slightly chuckling in pain

“Even after nearly meeting death you’re still happy. Wish I had that kind of positivity”

“Oh don’t worry, one day you will”

“One day, probably” Sizzy said, laughing to herself

“Hey, Sizzy”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for being here, it means a lot”

“Of course. I love you”

“I love you too”

“So, while we wait I brought you some books we can read” Sizzy said as she began pulling out various books from her bag.

“You know me so well”

“Well I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t” Sizzy said with a slight chuckle. The two woman began to read silently in peace.