Until Dawn

Chapter 5

Dawn sighed loudly. She pulled her hair into a ponytail since it was constantly getting in her way. Even the smallest things were starting to frustrate her. The lack of ventilation, her hair, and the fact that Olga kept trying to bother her.

Roman had given the three of them the basement so they could set up their lab. The old maid was always slowly walking down the stairs, pretending she had some task to take care of. Dawn knew this wasn’t true because the place hadn’t been used in years.

“I hear you Olga,” she said, sighing loudly again.

The maid popped her head around the corner and glared at her. She looked at the different vials and shook her head.

“I know, you hate this stuff down here but I promise we’re trying to save your town. Just give me a few more weeks and we’ll be gone.”

Satisfied with this answer, she put a sandwich on the table and quickly scurried out of them room. Dawn thankfully picked up her lunch and took a seat on her beaten up stool.

It had been a week since they had gathered all the samples and brought them down here. Her, Rachel, and James had been working all day and night to try and figure out what the problem was.

So far they had only found one problem but neither of them thought it would cause everything to die. The soil was very acidic and threw the PH of anything growing in it, off. Still, it wouldn’t kill things.

“I’m getting too old for this,” she mumbled, taking a large bite of the ham sandwich.

Dawn was only twenty five but she felt fifty. Her back hurt from bending over, her fingers were sore from constantly working with delicate slides, and her hair felt greasy because of the humidity in the basement.

Speaking of long hair, Roman seemed to be another one of her issues. She kept trying to get more information out of him but he was avoiding her like the plague.

She needed to know what wild life lived in the woods and he had lied to her. Roman said deer, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and goats if you went high enough up the mountain but, she had seen a pack of wolves just three days ago. He said she must have been seeing things. That was impossible. These wolves were a bit bigger than normal ones and there was no mistaking a pack of at least twelve wolves.

One even looked directly at her. She would never forget those grey eyes. They were similar to Roman’s but glowed with much more excitement than the big man’s.

She also kept asking him about the stone but he refused to answer those questions. His response was always the same; it’s none of your business. Stick to what we’re paying you for.

Whatever.

Rachel and James were exploring the woods with Ivan while Dawn was supposed to be looking at slides. Well she was tired of being down here. She finished her sandwich and made her way upstairs where she wasn’t surprised to see that no one was home.

Adriana was a teacher at the school, the kids were all in school and she had no idea where Roman and Yulena were.

Dawn decided she would take a shower and walk around town. Work was getting to be too much. There was only three weeks left but a few hours wouldn’t kill her.

She quickly washed off all the sweat, changed into her warmest clothes, and skipped downstairs. It felt great to be getting out.

She was just about to leave when Olga blocked her way.

“I don’t have time for this Olga,” she sighed, trying to move the lady as gently as possible.

Olga stood firmly and shook her head. Dawn was surprised by her strength. For being so little she sure did hold her ground.