"What did you just say?" Joe shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief. "Stop bullshitting! Why would you even say something like that? What kind of sick, cruel prank is this, how the hell can he be dead?!"
Joe practically lunged forward, nearly throwing himself at the doctor, but Aron stepped between them and slapped his arm away with a firm hand.
"Aron, what the hell are you doing?!" Joe yelled. "You can't seriously believe this guy! We were just talking to him a few hours ago! We literally had lunch together today, he was breathing fine! What does he mean, dead? Dead?! Max, say something! Tell him he's lying, tell him he's making this crap up!"
But Max didn't say a word.
He just stood there, frozen, his eyes locked forward in a hollow stare. Not even a flicker of emotion crossed his face.
It wasn't the first time Max had heard those words.
