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into your arm. Expecting real pain, you 
wince but it feels more like Skylar is 
rummaging under your skin. There is 
still enough dull pain that you let out a groan. 
Skylar stops and looks at you and you nod. “Go on, 
it isn’t too bad!” They keep going, then cover it in 
normal gauze and hold their hands down on it hard 
for a couple of minutes before taking them away. 
A moment later, Skylar laughs and you think ‘what 
are you laughing at, you jerk?!’ Skylar points at your 
arm. You look down and see that the bleeding has 
stopped.
You smile. Then realise you’ve been holding your 
breath all the way through. You take a big, gasping 
lung full, half laugh and then start to cry again as 
the tension of the last few minutes breaks. Skylar 
winds a bandage tight round your arm, tying a knot 
at the end.
You look at them and say, “thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Skylar says. “Looks like you’re 
the hero.”
“It’s in the bag marked ‘blood kit’ in a black packet 
about 1cm thick. It’s a kind of fabric mesh that has 
chemicals in it that will force the blood to clot.”
You can’t help crying as you watch Skylar search 
through the med kit and pull it out. The doctor 
says, “well done. Now in a minute, you’re going to 
have to pack it into the wound. Have some normal 
gauze and a bandage ready. It’ll be super painful 
so let’s get some pain killers on first. You see the 
yellow spray can labelled ‘local anaesthetic’? Spray 
that on to the area.”
You like the idea of some pain killers but again the 
stinging sensation is horrible. You groan loudly. “It 
stings! It’s so cold”
The doctor says, “It’ll start working in about 30 
seconds… there…? Is that better…?” You notice a 
sudden warmth and then numbness. All the pain 
of a few moments ago has dropped to a dull throb. 
You nod. “Right Skylar,” says the doctor, “are you 
ready? Do it.”
Skylar pulls the gauze apart and starts stuffing it 

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