Blood and sweat rolled down the man's skin as he struggled to lift the heavy bricks.
He grunted in pain as he felt his arms tremble with the effort. His entire body screamed from the wounds that covered his skin. Every fiber in his being begged him to stop, to give up, to leave the building behind.
But the small hand that could still be seen through the rubble of the ruined house kept him going. He would not leave a person in desperate need of help, not when he could do something about it.
So, he continued to struggle, lifting bricks and other parts of walls from the body of the child. A girl, he noticed with a heavy sigh after he had finished freeing her from the destruction. She had short fawn hair and pale skin, full of freckles. Her eyes were closed and for a moment, the man feared she was already dead, but after checking her pulse, he smiled in relief.
She was alive.
With great effort and pain, he managed to lift her up, barely able to walk from blood loss and exhaustion, as well as the multitude of wounds traveling all over his body.
And, with the small girl in his arms, he made his way through the ruined city, happy to have saved a life, even if so many more had been lost.