Wall (a short story inspired by Li Alonso's photo)

This isn't just any old wall. It is a barrier, secluding us from them. Separating families, friends, communities. It had been built to protect us. It has been a long time that we have needed protecting. 

I come here often. I like to feel the concrete on my back and remember how it used to be before the soldiers had built it. Long before they had needed to build it.

There are times when we forget about what is on the other side. When we wonder what all of the bother is about. Social media will create a mob, who try to break down the wall, shouting their slogans about equality for all and their human rights. Occasionally, one of them scales the wall.

And drops over the other side.

Of course, the military have cameras over there. Every now and then, they 'leak' a few minutes of footage on to YouTube to remind us of the things that live there. The things that they caught. The things that escaped.

Over there, they cut the power, blocked all cell towers and internet traffic, and left the few that stayed there to fend for themselves. They were given the option to evacuate. They said no. 

It's estimated that over two thousand stayed. Twelve months after the wall closed, they stopped dropping supplies. The creatures had brought down one of the choppers by throwing a car at it, so they deemed it too dangerous to continue. 

People are afraid of what they don't know. They fear the creatures because we've not been told anything about them. I have seen one. It was an alien. Fallen to earth in a ship that was broken. Captured, tortured, experimented on. It escaped, with it's fellow aliens, and killed over 300 military personal in the process. Bullets didn't stop them. Once free, nothing could. 

We are waiting for them to die now. But I can't help feeling sorry for them. If that was me, on an alien planet, I too would have killed everyone who had hurt me and imprisoned me. I too would have escaped. They're trapped in there, like animals in a zoo. There is no technology in there to help them, just 26 square miles of forest and farming villages. 

I come here because I love the feel of the concrete on my back. And because sometimes, just sometimes, I can hear them.

Li's photo was taken at the Berlin Wall. I tried to think of a situation where segregating people like that would happen now, and sadly came up with far too many current situations and places... I decided it would be best to treat this as sci-fi instead!