We made it down to the ground floor of our building in a mad dash, along with several other families. My duffle bag was heavy and cumbersome; it was already hurting my shoulder and I had a feeling it would slow me down.

There were several people in front of my mother and I, opening the side entrance door, looking out and immediately closing it in terror.

"What do we do? Where the fuck do we go?!" A tenant said.

Panic and pandemonium struck within the corridor. People began to cry, yell, scream and most had complete and total nervous breakdowns. Children began to cry and women began to whimper, clutching their young ones tightly.

One man stepped up to take command of the rest. I didn't know him or his name, but he gained the attention of the rest of the men by waving them over to where he was further into the corridor, next to the stairwell and away from the exit door. They could be heard talking and arguing. They discussed ideas and logical plans for escape to some sort of safety, wherever that was.

I managed to wade through the women and children to take a look by cracking the door. What I saw was an abyssal nightmare of chaos and bedlam that used to be South Philadelphia.

Mass hysteria took over the city's population.

People were running for their lives, moving in all directions with no actual direction or order to their resolve. The once peaceful town I knew, loved and grew up in had turned into an active war zone.

There were already casualties from collapsed buildings, fires, over turned cars, bomb craters and maser cannon bursts all over cars, buildings, sidewalks and asphalt. I had never witnessed such macabre up close and personal in my entire life. The smell of death made me sick to my stomach.