Sage released a breath he did not even realise he'd been holding when the lady said they'd lost the man.  It was the first time he'd seen someone die in front of him and the dramatic nature of what had happened here was enough to overwhelm him.  One of his hands reached out hesitantly to one of the tables next to him and he sat down, almost falling down on the floor.<br/><br/>He heard the sirens of another ambulance roaring past the diner and his thoughts of earlier came rushing back to him - so many ambulances recently.  "What was happening?  Is it an epidemic that we haven't been told of?" he thought to himself, a sudden stab of fear racing through him.  A faint chatter intruded into his thoughts and he realised that he still had the 911 operator on the line.  Putting the phone to his ear, he listened for a second.<br/><br/>"Yes... yes.. I'm here.  I... think.... we lost him." just as the paramedics burst in the door.  It had only been seconds since the noise of the ambulance pulling up in the lot and seconds since the woman had announced the mans death, but it seemed like so much longer to Sage.