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Tima returns with a first-aid kit that he leaves on the table

“Can you walk to the sink, Stepan?” I ask “I need to rinse off the blood”

“I’ll help,” Igor says

Igor puts his aro through the kit and extract a bottle of saline solution

At the sink, I open the tap and hold Stepan’s hand under the water “I need some clean dishcloths”

While Tima opens a drawer and takes out a stack of cloths, I pour saline solution over the cut When it’s clean, I grab a dishcloth and wrap it around Stepan’s hand to help stop the bleeding

“That’s good,” I say in a soothing tone “Now let’s get you back to the table”

Igor helps hi another one closer for myself

“Do you have a local anesthetic?” I ask

Igor motions with his head toward the kit “In there”

I position Stepan’s hand with his pal on the table “Keep pressure on the wound”

Igor does as I ordered, freeing my hands to find the anesthetic I fill a hypodermic needle froor removes the cloth, I inject the anesthetic in the fleshy part of the man’s palm

“Take a clean cloth and press it on the cut,” I say, looking for surgical thread and a needle

Stepan is pale, appearing close to fainting

“A soldier who’s scared of blood?” Ti smile

“Only his own blood,” Igor says, giving Tima a cold look “Your blood, for example, wouldn’t bother him”

“Hey” I give the or, tell him he can close his eyes or look away”

Igor repeats the words in Russian as I prick Stepan’s skin with the needle to test if the anesthetic has taken effect He flinches

“Does it hurt?” I ask

Igor repeats the question before translating fortouched, but there’s no pain”

“How did this happen?” I ask, pushing the needle through Stepan’s skin at the top of the cut

“Training,” Igor says

I lift ly “You train with real knives?”

“It would defy the objective to train with toy ones, wouldn’t it?”

I bite back a retort “What about Alex?”

“What about hior asks

“Does he approve of this training method?”