Novel

Josie watched her fingers curl around the cold black butt of the gun. Fumbling it, she staggered upright, pointing the gun at Peter. Matt backed away towards the showers, under Josie's cover. Peter held his gun steady, still pointing it at Matt, even though Josie was closer. " Josie", he said "let me finish this."

"shoot him, Josie," Matt said " Fucking shoot him"...

...The connection between this excerpt and seriousness is that this is not a fun situation to be in. No one wants to be at gunpoint. You take that as a serious situation. you feel a sort of suspense when reading the book and at this part when the whole book ties together you get that feeling of seriousness when she's about to shoot her boyfriend.