Tessa put her hand against the ruined house and felt the frame move.
"Not that wall." She said.
Orin stepped back from the loose boards. The opening beyond them would have saved a useful stretch of street, but the roof depended on the post they would need to remove. Belda marked the house as unsafe and pointed toward the next one.
They had been inside the rescue course for sixteen minutes. One survivor was received. A second waited above a broken bakery stair. They had the sling ready, but no position they trusted for the line.
Min examined a beam through the upper window. "That crosses two walls."
Orin checked the ends, then nodded. They ran the rope around it, protected the contact point with folded canvas, and tested the load before putting a person into the sling. The man with the injured ankle watched them with growing impatience until Tessa explained what would happen if the support failed.
He became patient after that.
