What happened in the last passage happens again, only quicker. The group’s tension rises.
Someone started wailing, a creepy, flesh-crawly sound. Everybody talked at once, the chatter escalating to yelling.
“Try 911,” a scared voice demanded.
“Who do you think I called, numbnuts?”
“There’s no 911?”
“There’s nothing. I’ve gone through half my speed dials, and there’s not anything.”
Can you find the same pattern in these examples?
Another person swore, this time in what sounded like Italian. Everyone joined in the muttering and cursing.
“Is someone going to fix the lights, or what?”
“It’s got to be more than the stupid lights if our phones don’t work!”
“More than the lights?”
“Think about it, doofus. How can they all not be working?”
Trixie's Gran came out of the house banging a metal pot with a metal spoon, like she was trying to scare off an angry ghost. “It’s a plague!” she screamed. “Repent!”
The neighbours went bananas.
“A plague? Like in the Bible?”
“It’s not a plague. It’s chemical warfare! We’re hallucinating from gas!”
“Someone call the police!”
“No, the fire department!”
“Call the army!”
