- shooting the 'roadrat' (pp. 62-69)
'something woke him' this is clearly not going to be a good 'something'
'Quick' this builds up tension and creates a sense of urgency.
tension is built by the words 'slung' and 'tore', they are running for their lives, ripping through the forest like prey being stalked by a predator. Causing destruction with no time to stop and think.
Short sentences add to the suspence and panic- 'The boy was terrified.' 'Run.'

'Then it quit.' this is the uh oh moment in which the reader knows they will be found or will have to stay on guard and silent for a while. Moments of tension within the book end with gore or death so we expect that the 'Men standing in the bed looking out.' are not the good guys. 

The man has the pistol in his hand without realising this is a parental reflex action, a need to protect his child even thought he knows he shouldn't us the gun. perhaps he didn't think he'd fire it but just have it as a threatening device.

'roadrat' is an accurate name, he asks 'Are you a doctor?' he clearly isn't very intelligent if he thinks the man is a doctor just because he has knowledge about the brain. The mans knowledge suggess he could have been a scientist or doctor or possibly someone that workedwith guns as he knew what it would do and where it would hit. This possible army background is also presented with the mans clear shot and almost planned movements.

'I'm not anything.' links to the idea of identity loss on page 50 'when the man says Who is anybody?' The world no longer exists therefore what the man was no longer exists, he is something (or nothing) new, not what he was and not anything else. He can't be a doctor even if he used to be because the old him is dead. Doctors don't exist. Jobs don't exist. Everything is new, bleak and dead. The man suggests he doesn't even believe he is human anymore, as if humans don't exist and in there place are objects of nothingness with memories of a pre apocalyptic world.

'mute as a stone.' -the boy has been protected from this sort of event, what happend shocked him, it shows he is still innocent and human.