Yevgeny Zamyatin — We [747]

Then, all at once, as at a signal from some mad conductor, shouts, crashing on all the platforms, the whirl of unifs swept in flight, the figures of the Guardians rushing about helplessly, someone’s heels in the air before my eyes, and near them someone’s mouth wide open in a desperate, unheard scream. For some reason, this etched itself in memory more sharply than anything else: thousands of silently screaming mouths, as on some monstrous movie screen. — Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, 747

Note

Surreal, cinematic capture of mass panic through the specific, grotesque detail of silent screaming mouths.