Tuesday, September 11th, 2001

05

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Black, and dark grey mixed with singed papers and light debris fly towards us all, looming over us at a rapid pace.

People panic, crying out and screaming, people sprinting past us as a hot wind blows, the ground still seeming slightly shaky.

We all turn and sprint, attempting to outrun a doomed fate.

Sprinting on adrenaline and fear alone, our lives in danger would've been exhilarating had we not been in severe danger.

Several of the girls tear their pencil skirts at this point, needing as much mobility as possible. Anyone wearing glasses left them behind in favor of having more freedom of movement.

Many of the men in suits ditched their jackets as well, some even left their button-ups in favor of the undershirt.

We run and run, rarely glancing back to see how far the looming dust cloud is. At this point, it was beginning to tax us. More than probably 200 people now run alongside us, crowding the streets, news reporters, firefighters, first responders, EMTs, office workers, people in the surrounding buildings. More people from countless walks of life running for our lives.

The sentiment would have again been beautiful if our lives weren't at stake.

And just as my body was beginning to get ready to give out, Robin somewhere in Florida crossed my mind. And just the thought of her alone pushed me to run faster.

I glanced behind us, seeing that the dust cloud wasn't far behind us, and had in fact taken some of the people that were running in it. And as we all kept running, suddenly it all went dark and blurry. We couldn't see a thing.

Many of us collapsed at this point, defeated, our bodies giving out, and choking. Our eyes welled with tears as the dust and the heat dried them out.

So many of us fell coughing, hacking even, some dry heaving as the dust-filled their lungs.

Maria seemed to have an idea as she fell to the ground. She quickly and shakily took her bra off through her sleeve, folding it in so the two cups overlapped, and then strapped the straps around her head so it was in a form a filtering mask. Some of the other women witnessed this and did the same.

I had an idea, I had shed my jacket a bit back but I hadn't done away with my button-up.

I quickly unbuttoned my button-up, folding it under and buttoning o keep it in place. I wrapped the sleeves behind my head to keep it on my face and it functioned similarly.

"Everybody! You all have some form of clothing on your body right now that can be folded or tied to function as a dust mask! Ladies, a bra will work for you, guys whatever shirt you have on should work, just get something to protect your lungs, and do it quick cause if we don't move fast we will not get out of here!" Micheal sees what we're doing and shouts as he does the same with his undershirt. We all quickly stand and help the people that are having difficulties, doing it for the few that have been incapacitated. Everyone that is functioning well, and can help at this point, starts carrying the ones that are out cold on our shoulders. There's at least six or seven of them.

We hurry, running. And as the dust cloud seems to dissipate little by little, a new form of hope seems to arise as if from the darkness. When we all see flashing lights of ambulances, and firetrucks. People there to help us all. We see so many people coated and covered in white dust, so much so that you couldn't tell the color of their clothes.

And hope arose within us all.

We ran, and the people that were out were immediately given oxygen pumps to fix the ratio of how much dust and smoke compared to oxygen there was.

They were immediately after sent off to the hospital in a few of the ambulances. The rest of us were given breathing assistance as well.

"You guys okay?" one EMT asked as she fastened a breath pump to Micheal.

"We will be," Maria answered.

"Who thought of the clothing mask thing? Because honestly, that probably saved your lives," another asked as he passed out water bottles

I took a gulp as Micheal pointed to Maria and I, as they took the pump off of him, moving to help another of our coworkers.

"These genius idiots starting taking their bra and shirt off in the middle of this fiasco and fashioned a makeshift dust mask out of fucking nowhere and I'm here confused on what the hell they are doing, and then I caught on and we got everybody else to do it as well," he explained, rolling his eyes as he went.

"Well, it was a smart move on your part, so what exactly happened to you lot?" The first Emt asked, moving to help Maria now.

"Well, we all heard the first plane come in, with a whooshing sound, and as soon as we went to look, we were knocked off of our feet by the shaking, we worked in the south tower, and... and... my husband... he works in the north tower..... and we panicked and ran downstairs, and about by the time we were in the lobby, a lot of people had aquired in the lobby, and then after looking to see how bad the tower was damaged we went to watch the news feed, when this one noticed the second plane," Maria tearfully explained.

"And we all got down and away from windows and after about ten to twenty minutes of waiting for the debris to slow down, but it never did, so we all ran out into the streets, and just sprinted, heading for Times Square so that we were far away and could simultaneously get news coverage but we barely made it two miles before the south tower came down," Micheal continued, seeing that Maria was getting very upset at this point, even though tears were in all of our eyes.

"And as the dust loomed over us all, we ran.... we ran as though we've never ran before in our lives, and eventually we couldn't outrun it anymore and we were in that cloud of dust, heat, and smoke, and then we got the makeshift dust masks on, and ran until we saw lights and the dust started to fade away," I finished, a few tears rolling down my cheek as i thought back onthe entire occurance that happened in less than two hours.

"What time is it?" Micheal seemed to think a similar thought, realizing how much had occured in such a short amount of time.

"It is 10:15 or so," one of them answered after glancing at their watch.

Robin again seemed to come to mind.

"Wait, do you guys have any updates on the news?" I asked.

"Well, the pentagon was hit about half an hour ago as well, and another plane went down in a field in Pennsylvania somewhere a little while ago, and the north tower is still standing, The White House, The Chicago Sears Tower, and the Capitol Building have been or are in the process of being evacuated," one of them clears up.

"What about the whereabouts of the president?" I ask, worrying about where Robin is.

"Air Force One took off moments before the tower collapsed, they have left Florida but their new location is now unknown," the other explains.

"Are you sure?" I ask, still terrified for my fiancé.

"Yes, is there a reason you're stressing so much because brother let me tell you, stressing will help nothing," one of them said.

"My fiancé is a secret service agent, and she was with the president in Florida," I explain shortly, not going into any detail.

"I get it, man, I get it, but hey, now that the other ambulances are back from taking several rounds of the other's, it's your turn to head to the hospital, so go on ahead buds, it'll be a lot better than here," one of them promises as more ambulances reappear.

Maria, Micheal, another of our coworkers, and myself are loaded into one, as are another group of four and we are taken to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.