Fallen Angel

Intruder Alert

In truth, Paige should have expected it. There was a reason Maizie and her mother had lined the property with motion sensors to alert the mansions occupants in case of trespassers. Paige threw on a shirt and her leather jacket, before scrambling for the rifle as Angel rushed to grab her boots. Slipping on pants she practically bolted from the bedroom, with Angel giving chase her shoes in teeth. Paige expertly loaded the silver weapon in her hands as she sprinted down the hallway, back towards the diorama room. Surveillance, she needed to see the cameras. Skidding around the corner, she moved to one of the displays leaping over the fake knee high dinosaurs before stopping beside the hidden desk, her eyes scanning the screens quickly.

It was late afternoon, at least she had gotten sleep. Sometimes she wasn't even that lucky. Angel dropped the boots beside the monitors as Paige grabbed the first one, setting to work slipping the boots on as she hit the mouse scrolling through the video feeds before finally coming upon the one she needed. A car sat at the front of the building, a father and son were getting out of the vehicle as they seemed to speak. What were they doing here?

The man was well built and wore a white shirt showing off his muscled dark arms. The boy was skinny, coming barely up to the man's chest and he wore a bright red jacket. Paige smiled at least the boy would be easy to spot if and when they entered the mansion. The two started up the large stairs as Paige tightened her grip on the gun and with a wave of her hand, Angel disappeared from her side. The dinosaur would take care of itself, he's done it a few hundred times before this was no different.

Paige left the monitors, returning to the main part of the diorama room as she moved towards the direction of the two newcomers. She could hear the soft voices as she slipped into a side room, flicking off the main lights of the building. A rattle came from the door, as it swung open a few minutes later.

"Be careful, Ethan." A deeper voice said as footsteps echoed through the hall.

"Dad this is so cool! How come no one comes up here?" The boy, who Paige assumed was Ethan, said. A small laugh escaped the father as they started forward, the click of a flashlight rang before the white beam filled the hallway.

"It was overrun with dinosaurs, years ago. No one has wanted to come back because of that. Though I'm almost certain they are all gone, people haven't reported any dinosaurs in almost a year now." The father answered as Paige tightened her grip on the gun. They were from the nearby town, of course they were. Why would random people come up here?

"Can we go this way?" The boy said as he jumped over a fallen piece of furniture as he came into Paige's view. The boy was smiling brightly, his eyes searching every surface as he tried to gather all of it in as quickly as possible before they moved to the next area.

"Just be careful. I don't know how stable this place really is." The man answered as he walked into view. Ethan led his father toward the diorama room as Paige crept out of her spot, she needed to stop them from getting to the elevator. Silently, she followed after as the two looked at the towering dinosaur bones that littered the room.

"What happened here?" Ethan asked as he looked down at the shards of glass that littered the floor. The man walked forward examining the glass before gazing up at the skylight that used to stand far above their heads. Paige took a tentative breath, before moving out of her hiding spot raising the gun towards them.

"Who are you?" She growled getting the two to whip around. The man pulled a pistol from his belt as Ethan moved behind his father. The man blinked a few times before his eyes fully adjusted to the dark that Paige was standing in, and his face contorted in confusion.

"You... you're a child." The man whispered as Paige held back the anger that rose in her throat.

"I said, who are you! And what are you doing here?" Paige snarled as her finger loomed around the trigger. The man hesitated, before very slowly lowering the pistol but he didn't return it to it's holster.