The Service Tunnel

Text 1: Under Stone, by Owen Ransome

An original novel extract.

The tunnel had always hummed. Pumps throbbed behind the walls, cables trembled in their brackets and water ticked steadily into the drainage channel. Tariq knew every sound. That was why the small, dry click above his head made him stop.

Dust sifted from a crack in the ceiling. He raised his torch. The crack was thin as a pencil line, but while he watched, it lengthened across the concrete. Click. A metal fixing sprang free and struck the floor. Click. Another followed. At the far end of the tunnel, Rosa turned towards him.

‘Move!’ Tariq shouted.

The ceiling answered with a grinding growl. The lights blinked once, twice, and vanished. In the torch beam, the air became a white storm of dust. Tariq ran towards Rosa, one hand stretched in front of him, but the floor kicked beneath his boots. A slab crashed down between them. The impact punched the torch from his hand and darkness slammed shut.

‘Rosa?’

For a moment there was only the slow settling of rubble. Then, from the other side of the fallen concrete, came three faint knocks. Above Tariq, something cracked again.

How does Owen Ransome use language and structure to show the danger in the tunnel?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.