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He gives a bark of laughter that ends with a wet cough “Finally got your naway”

I repeat his na

“Can you tell ?”

“Yes, but it’s labored” His chest isn’t rising up and down as it should be I’m no doctor, but I can’t help but think this is a worst case scenario His skin is cla over

“Keep hi, the ambulance and the police should be there shortly I need you to find so to seal the wound at the exit and entry points It needs to be air tight Then I need you to apply pressure until they arrive”

I cradle the phone between my shoulder and cheek and thank the Lord they didn’t takeit onto its side, I open it with cluers make me sick to my stomach

“W-what do you ht?”

“Plastic, tape, anything that can stop air fro into the wound”

I grab the pink, white, and zebra duct tape I couldn’t resist buying and tear off the strip, hold it between ize with my eyes before I push the flannel aside and raise his T-shirt His body jerks and he gives a hoarse cry as I spread the tape over the di blood

“I-I have one side done”

“Excellent, now you need to do the same to the exit wound”

I close my eyes

“Ollie, I need you to help e the wound in your back, too On three”He grunts I set the cell phone aside “One, two, three” I roll hi to help is hurting The silence that follows horrifiesthe quarter-sized exit wound Done, I lay him on his back as the sirens reachhe passed out from the pain His body is warm, but his chest

I shove the thoughts away, pull down the T-shirt, and lean against the wound Closing my eyes, I count in my head as if the sirens are a storm One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand I hit twenty when the sound is right behind me on the street Help’s finally arrived

OLLIE