Unit 1 “We’ve Been Hit!”

With the building in flames, one man needed help. Another man refused to leave him. Adam Mayblum used to enjoy watching as storms lashed the windows of his office: You think that’s power? Mayblum would scoff. I’m on the 87th floor of the World Trade Center. That’s power. The drawstrings on his window shades would appear to sway slightly, but it was an illusion. Although they were 1,040 feet in the sky, The WTC was quite steady.

When Mayblum felt a devastating rumble on that September morning, he glanced at the drawstrings. They were careening wildly, three feet in either direction.

Mayblum would be one of thousands cast into an extraordinary purgatory that morning1. While as many as 25,000 would find their way to safety, 5,000 would not. For some, it was a matter of geography2 — not just which tower they worked in or on which floor, but in which corner of the building.

For some, the choices were as basic as which staircase to use. Others faced the ultimate moral dilemma: Save yourself, or save another.

The confusion inside Adam Mayblum’s office at May Davis, a financial services firm, lasted just seconds. He knew he needed to get out.

He ripped his T-shirt into pieces, soaked the pieces in water and gave them to colleagues to cover their faces. Among them: Harry Ramos, head trader at May Davis. Mayblum had worked with Ramos off and on for 14 years.3

Sparks bit at Mayblum’s ankles as he raced for the stairs. He bolted down two flights before realizing that his trading partner, Hong Zhu, had been left behind. He went back upstairs, the whole area now filled with smoke and burning jet fuel.

There was no sign of Hong. Mayblum hurried down again and made it to the 78th floor, a transfer lobby where one set of elevators and stairs ended and another began. He saw a reassuring sight; Ramos had waded into the pandemonium to help panicked workers into a stairwell.

Mayblum continued his descent, the muscles in his calves contracting in spasms. On the 53rd floor, he came across a heavyset man whose legs just wouldn’t move anymore.4 “Do you want to come, or do you want us to send help?” Mayblum shouted. The man asked him to send help. Adam said he would.

In the noise, smoke and sparks, Mayblum didn’t realize that his friend Hong Zhu was behind him in the stairwell the whole time. When Hong got to the 53rd floor, he came across Harry Ramos. Ramos had stooped to help the heavyset man Mayblum had seen earlier. “I’ll give you a hand,” Hong said.