The wall

Red hair of tenacity

“No its alright,” he smiled and patted her shoulder “I appreciate the help, but I promised to get you home before dinner.”

She smiled back at Cairo “Thank you,” she said before pushing him away “Race you home?”

“You’re on!” he said, before he ran to catch up with her he turned and lobbed the stick at the wall. The stick hit the wall with a thud and fell into the grass bellow. He pivoted on his heel and turned to run. However, he came to an immediate stop when a loud cracking sound echoed throughout the valley.

Magda skidded to a stop herself and turned to look at her friend. “Cairo, what was that?” she asked with a frown.

He turned to face the source of the thunderous sound. A large crack had formed about mid-way up the concrete structure. He blinked a few times and his mouth fell open.

She ran up beside him and shook his shoulder “Did you do that; please tell me you didn’t do that?” She asked in a frantic tone.

“Ah, no there’s no way I did that,” he said and shook his head “There’s no way I’m that strong, right?” he asked.

“I don’t think so, but what else could have done it?” she asked and her knees trembled.

“Beats me,” he replied and approached the wall. He knelt down and picked up the broken stick. After he took a step back he swung the stick into the wall. He waited for a reaction as his hands recovered from the vibrations. He Turned to face Magda with a large smirk “See, nothing happened,” he said.

Almost as soon as the words left his lips a series of larger cracks began to spread across the surface of the concrete. The ground beneath their feet shook and trembled as if angered by their actions. Cairo stumbled and attempted to keep his balance as he looked up at the wall.

“Cairo, move it’s not safe,” Magda said as she shouted over the sounds of destruction. She stepped forward in an attempt to get his attention but found his gaze locked on the concrete beast.

Without warning a large section of concrete shot out from the wall and soared through the air. It smashed into one of the trees in the distance and cracked it in half.

Cairo looked up just in time to notice the large piece of wall that was about to crush them. He reacted and pushed Magda to safety just as the huge chunk crashed into the ground were they just stood.

The wall seemed to shake with each loud crash. A thick cloud of dust surrounded the children. Cairo shielded Magda with himself as he waited out the catastrophe. The dust settled and was replaced by an almost blinding light that emanated from the wall. He uncovered his eyes to see a large crude hole in the large barricade.

Magda sobbed softly from underneath Cairo “Is it over yet?” She asked.

He nodded his head and moved off of her “Yeah, I think it is,” he replied and stood on his knees.

“Oh no, the wall… its broken,” she said and looked over at him.

“Yeah it is…,” he said but appeared to be deep in thought. He got up off the ground and dusted himself off. He made his way through the field of rubble and walked closer towards the hole.

“Cairo, don’t you dare go any closer,” she said in a stern voice “I’m serious, if you do this I’m going to be extremely upset with you.”

“I’m only going to take a peak I swear,” he said and began to climb the remaining bit of wall at the base of the hole.

“It could be dangerous,” she said and stomped her foot.

“I’ll only look for a second,” he said and continued his ascent.

Just as his head was about to reach the top of the wall he felt it shift beneath his hands. He slipped and tumbled backwards before he rolled to a stop.

“Oh my gosh, what is that!” she shouted and pointed at the hole.

Where once was empty space now stood a strange creature the likes of which they had never seen. It appeared to be some fusion of insect and machine resembling a large golden beetle. The creature released a grinding sound and sprung from its perch landing near Cairo.

Magda let out a scream and dropped to her knees in fear. The creature moved its mechanical head around as if confused.

Cairo threw up his arm in defense and squeezed his eyes shut. He waited to feel the creatures cold metal but instead heard a loud thud. He opened his eyes to see an older girl with long red hair standing over the now upturned beast.

The girl raised the oversized wrench she held into the air and brought it down on the creature causing it to shake and quiver.

“What the heck is going on?” he asked in confusion. “Who are you?”

The girl gave him a brief look “Can’t talk now kiddo, I’m kind of dealing with a pest problem,” she replied. The girl arched her wrench back and focused, a strange electric energy seemed to flow through the wrench. She swung it into the creature and sent it through the air until it smashed against the wall.

“There we go problem solved,” she said and slung the wrench over her shoulder. She approached the two kids who sat side by side now. “You guys ok… you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” she asked and gave a puzzled look.

The two first stared at each other before looking at her.

“What, Is there something on my face?” she asked.