Tower Escape.

        I was driving a woman and a couple of  children to a large building shaped like the Atari Logo. When we arrived the kids asked if I have ever been there before and I nodded, pointing to the photos on a wall in the lobby. It was a review of a failed terrorist attack on the tower just about one year ago.

        I had a flashback to that day. I was in one of the three towers, and there were explosions below. I helped evacuate three kids to a safe room, and then we were told the floors below were blocked off. I, for some reason, had a backpack with me. I cut out the central panel that split the top from the bottom and had the little girl climb in. Then I swung out onto the balcony and had the two boys follow. I sent them down to the next balcony below using a pair of  emergency ladders I had made. (Apparently I was guest teaching a rope tying/pioneering class and happened to have the materials with me.)

The three of us made our way down, moving from balcony to balcony, with me staying behind to un-hook the ladders and then jump after the boys. When we reached the sloped part of the building the boys slid down and I made my way more carefully, not wanting to bump the girl around too much.

        After we made it to ground level I put the emergency ladders in the backpack and climbed back up to help others trapped in the tower. For a little bit of time I was just evacuating just a floor ahead of the terrorists, only moving people a couple of floors down, into areas the terrorists had all ready searched.

        There were a couple of times we had to swing out as I could see men in black masks searching the rooms I’d cleared.

        We cleared a dozen floors that way and the National Guard were able to trap the terrorists on the top floor.

        The kids looked at the pictures and looked at me, both of them with a fearful expression on their faces.