Hope

It started faintly at first. The sound of machines drilling through concrete and steel, muffled by layers of thick reinforced slabs. An intermittent silence, followed by pounding and then silence again.  The noise was welcomed as it penetrated the darkness, it represented hope.

More drilling and pounding, each sequence followed by a short pause, then starting over again. As time wore on, the noise became louder until the sounds of muffled voices could be heard.

The victim began yelling in hopes that the people making the noise would hear and work toward his location. The sounds continued, the voices became clearer, the noise louder. Finally the noise was accompanied by dust. Dust and light.

Finally a human form appeared, then another. The victim was relieved just to hear and see another human being. They represented the start of a journey back into the world of light, a journey from despair into hope.

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I can't imagine being trapped below a pile of rubble, I wasn't overly fond of climbing down into the pile on my own.  My journey into the pile was an easy one and I could just climb out anytime I wanted, yet it was kind of nice seeing the rescue team members accessing nearby voids and finally making it into the space I was occupying. I snapped the above photo as the first search team member crawled into the void. A minute later, the horn sounded and the evolution was over. They crawled back the way they came, I shouldered my camera and climbed the ladder to freedom.

Thanks to the folks that let me attend this drill, It was a great experience.

Thanks to you for reading.

Schmoe