| Wattys 2022 Shortlist | CURRENTLY UNDER THE EDITING PROCESS
Bora, the last arctic breed, was born with an ominous curse. He must sacrifice himself to the deity for the sake of his kind, but when he meets Gemma, love makes him reevaluate his self-i...
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Rudy flashed a hand signal for Qu to go. Quinn hunched over while jogging to the scanner, swiping the card on the machine. And the chain-sounding gate slowly started to open.
We rush inside, proceeding directly to the side of the parked medical vans lined up against the curb.
"Wait." Rudy halted us. He peeked out between the vans to locate Bora and turned around. "Okay, let's go." He said as we followed behind him.
We passed the vans to the eighteen-wheelers walking behind them. Each one, we looked to the front, seeing if the close was clear, and headed to the next. I'm so anxious. I want to avoid all of this hiding and run right to Bora.
The crew got close enough to see him sniffing around and whimpering.
"Bora?" I murmured. It hurts to see him locked up in cold steel. He spent most of his life in a cage. I moved in his direction, but Rudy clutched my arm, pulling me back.
"What?" I threw up my hands.
"We're hiding, remember? You can't run out there. You don't know who is around." He whispered, letting me go. "I will go check it out." He left us behind the big rig, waiting. I hate waiting. If we set him free, he can do the rest, and we can get out of here.
"Pss, pss," Rudy called, waving for us to come over. We duck down, jogging in between the big rigs into the view of an open parking lot with a few roller box doors open. I see Bora in a heavy metal cage with double red signal lights on each top corner of the enclosure. He is only a few feet from us. We hid on the side of the tractor, connected to his trailer.
"Move quickly." Rudy directed. "Qu, Ava, we are on the lookout. Quinn, you get the front, I got the right, and Ava, you get the left. Gemma, you know what to do. We only have a minute, maxed." Rudy checked one more time. "Okay, go," he ordered.
Everybody goes into position. I yank my mask off, running up to Bora, reaching for the cage. He morphed into a human. "Stop!" he shouted, hitting the bars, shocking himself, and his body flew back, hitting it again, dropping to the floor.
"Bora!" I cried out, covering my mouth.
He rose on all fours and held up his palm. "No. I'm fine." He crawled his way to me.
"Hey, looking good, Gem," Bora struggled to say.
"Stop, I've been worried about you," I subtly laugh, wiping my tears.
"You need to get French fry boy, coyote girl, and sandalwood out of here before security smells them." Bora chuckled and winced from the pain. "I guarantee Rudy smells like that for the elder girl. By the way, why does Ava smell like a coyote in heat? Disgusting."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Bora focus. We need to get you out." I let out, and he straightens up.
