Eric stared at his phone as it rang in his hand, his eyes locked on the caller ID. He couldn't help but give a small wince once it became clear that his father wasn't about to give up on contacting him.

"You are troubled," Thirteen noted from beside him. "Is something the matter?"

"Why yes, as a matter of fact, something is the matter," Eric replied. "My father is attempting to call me."

She blinked. "...I believe it is customary to answer-"

"I'm aware, I just… forgot I was supposed to contact him a few days ago, so he's probably gonna give me a whole rash of shit over that." Eric sighed, running a hand through his hair. "And as if that wasn't bad enough, I still haven't told him about you."

Thirteen tilted her head at that, and Eric pursed his lips. "Not the specifics about you, of course, but rather just the fact that I have a girl living with me. And before you ask – yes, he's going to give me a whole rash of shit over that, too."

"My apologies."

"Not in a bad way…" Eric sighed tiredly. "Alright, he's not giving up, so I'm gonna have to take this. Just… stay there and try not to make any noise, okay?"

Thirteen nodded, and Eric took a breath before accepting the call.

"Well, it's about damn time!" his father said from the other end of the line. "You busy or something?"

"Sorry, I was preoccupied," Eric offered.

"Well, what were you preoccupied with? It better have been getting head from a nice girl."

"Dad…"

His father laughed. "I'm just messing with you, son. So, tell me, how the hell are you? It's been awhile. Weren't you supposed to call me a few days ago?"

"Sorry," Eric repeated.

"Ah, it's no big deal – at least we're talking now. So, how are things, anyway? That cute little black-haired number still coming around regularly?"

"Cute little black-haired-" Eric paused as his father's words sank in. Slowly, his eyes narrowed. "...You mean Rosa?"

"Yeah, her. She still making sure you remember how to cook and clean?"

"In a manner of speaking. J-just… I'm sorry, did you just try to imply that she's cute?"

"Well, she is."

Eric let out another tired sigh. "I'm not even gonna ask how you figured out she was my liaison…"

"It wasn't hard. I just had to call up the office and ask around like the concerned parent I am. Once I got her name, all I had to do was look her up online. Had to make sure they were treating you right, after all."

Too little, too late, but Eric made sure not to tell him that.

"Anyway, you should ask her out."

Eric's eye twitched. "Dad, I am not asking out Rosa. Not only would that be a huge conflict of interest for her, but she's also kind of a massive bitch."

"I thought that was your type? That girl you were dating back in high school certainly fit the bill."

"That was a decade ago."

"So what, you mean to tell me you've finally graduated to something better? Hell, maybe now you're dating the kind of woman who could actually just kill you."

Idly, Eric immediately thought of Thirteen, and shuddered. "Not quite."

"Ah, I heard that! Makes it sound like you are dating someone. Is she there with you now?"

"I'm not dating anyone, dad," Eric replied, exasperated. "That being said, I do have a long-term house guest for the time being."

"You do?" He paused. "Is she cute?"

Eric bit his tongue. Instead, he shook his head. "She's a friend from my time in the service – needed a place to stay for a while after finally getting out. I offered to let her crash at my house for a bit while she gets herself situated."

"Your friend? I wasn't aware you had many friends from your time in the military."

He didn't.

At least, not anymore.

Eric shook his head. "Look, if all you did was call me up to tease me about my love life-"

"Come on, Junior – you know I'm just giving you a hard time. I'll stop if it's bothering you that much."

Eric let out a slow exhale. "...Fine. So, what are you really calling for?"

"What, I can't check in with my favorite son?"

"I'm your only child."

"Yeah, I know." He laughed. "But seriously. How are you doing? You've been in that house for about a year now. You're not just sitting inside by yourself all day, are you?"

Eric winced. Slowly, he shook his head. "Nah. I go out from time to time. You know, hang out with people, get some food, see the sights around town…"

"Sounds cool. Say, I don't think I've been there to visit you since you moved in. Next time I'm in town, we should do something, maybe tour one of those Civil War battlefields. I know you're a big history buff."

"That's being generous. All I do in that department is watch documentaries when there's nothing else on."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Well, guess what? That's more than what I do." His father laughed again. "Anyway, I also wanted to let you know… I'm planning to go hunting again soon."

Eric's heart skipped a beat. "By yourself?"

"Yup."

"...Tell me you're just hunting deer."

"If I do, will you believe me?"

"Dad-"

"Come on, Eric," his father implored. "I'm an experienced hunter, you know that. Hell, I taught you everything I know – even gave you some of my old guns, too."

"I know, but accidents can still happen," Eric protested. "I'd feel a lot better if you took someone with you."

"What, and have them scare away the game? I don't think so. But if it makes you feel better, I'll be sure to bring my phone with me, along with some medical supplies and rations. That'll be more than enough to keep me going."

"If you say so…" Eric shook his head. "Hey, so, while I have you… what do you want me to do with those pictures?"

"Which ones?"

"The ones of you and Mom."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "...You still haven't put those up?"

Eric hesitated. "...No room in my place, at least not at the moment. I can mail them back to you-"

"Keep 'em. She'd have wanted you to have them, anyway." There was another pause. "...She'd have been proud of you, son. Don't ever forget that."

A sudden lump formed in his throat. Slowly, Eric swallowed it, then nodded. "I know."

"Good. Anyway, glad I got to catch up with you, even if it was only for a few minutes. I'll talk to you later, son."

"Yeah. Talk to you later, Dad."

With that, the call ended. Eric stared at his phone once more, then let out a heavy sigh before pocketing it and turning back towards Thirteen. She was standing next to the car, staring at him, looking a little lost. He sucked in a breath, then stepped over to the driver's side window.

"Let's get going," he said. "Fucking starving over here…"

***

Dinner was a silent affair between the two of them. Eric ended up splitting the bill with her, and then they got back into the car for the ride home. It was there, on the drive back, that Thirteen finally broke the silence that had come over the two of them.

"Your father seemed… nice."

Eric looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He let out a grunt, then shook his head. "Old man just likes to grind my gears."

"Grind your-"

"Figure of speech. It means he likes to bother me on purpose."

"...And you accept this?"

"Yeah. I mean, I figure it's a father's place to give his children shit."

"Hm."

With that, she fell silent once more. Eric turned his attention back towards the road, but something about this conversation was bothering him. Thirteen had never been one for conversation unless she'd needed something from him, so for her to suddenly try speaking with him about something mundane such as this… he felt he at least owed it to her to try and carry on the talk.

"What about you?" he asked. "Got a family?"

Slowly, she shook her head. Eric couldn't help but wince. "Sorry… should have figured."

"Figured what?"

He paused. "...Don't know. Just… should have realized that's a sensitive question-"

"They're dead."

Eric turned to her in surprise. He found her staring out the window, watching the trees go by as they sped down the highway.

"Iprenians shelled the surface of the planet for days," she said, her voice taking on that same emotionless monotone. "They killed a lot of people, my family among them. I lost both my parents, both older brothers, and my infant sister. I was five."

Again, Eric felt that familiar lump form in his throat. "Sorry."

She said nothing, instead continuing to look out the window in silence. Eric hesitated, another thought occurring to him. It was a dangerous one, he knew, but this was the first chance he'd gotten to get some real information out of her.

And so, he took it.

"Is that what made you decide to become an Angel?"

For the first time since entering the car, Thirteen turned towards him, surprise etched across her face. For a moment, Eric was worried that he'd said the wrong thing – that he'd dug too deep and earned her ire.

But instead, she surprised him yet again.

"...They offered me a choice," she said softly. "While I was recovering in the hospital, a few men in suits approached me. They said they'd heard about what had happened to me, and that if I wanted, they could help me avenge my family. Avenge… I didn't know what it meant back then, but it didn't take me

long to understand."

Again, Eric swallowed, though this time it was out of nervousness rather than anything else. "...So that's when the military took you in?"

She nodded. "Myself and the others. All fifty of us. The oldest was nine, and the youngest was four. The only thing we had in common was that we wanted to make the Iprenians pay for what they'd done to us. We didn't know what we were asking for at the time, but we knew enough to be certain that if there was something we could do to hurt them the same way they'd hurt us, we'd take it."

"And… when did they begin training you?"

This time, Thirteen didn't answer immediately. Instead, she turned to look back out the window once more, and silence settled over the car again. She hadn't said anything, but she hadn't needed to.

Eric understood completely from her silence alone.

***

"Eric, calm down."

"Don't start," he managed to hiss over the phone to her, the words coming out slurred. The room was spinning around him, but he didn't care. It was too late at night for him to care. Instead, he raised the bottle of bourbon to his lips and took another sip before turning back to his phone.

"Did you know?"

"Did I know what?"

"That she was-" He caught himself as his voice began to steadily grow louder, his rage almost too great to contain. Eric hesitated, then lowered his voice down so it was barely above a whisper before speaking again.

"That she was a fucking child soldier."

Rosa said nothing. A vein pulsed in Eric's forehead. "So you did know."

"Would it have changed anything if I had told you?" she demanded.

"I don't know, would it?"

"You're the one drunkenly calling me at midnight to rant about it. You tell me."

Eric let out a grunt, but said nothing. He took another swig, draining what was left in the bottle before setting it aside and looking back to his phone.

"She was five, Rosa," he told her. "Five years old, and the government took advantage of her. They saw a little girl who'd just lost everything, and their first thought wasn't how they could help her. Oh, no. No, it was how they could use her."

"In their defense, we needed the Angels-"

"Not like that," he growled. "There had to have been another way. Something less drastic, less… evil."

Several seconds passed. Finally, Rosa broke the silence by letting out a heavy sigh.

"Look, it's late," she said. "I'll stop by tomorrow. You and I can discuss this in-person then. Just… do me a favor tonight first."

"What?"

"Please stop drinking for the night. You can be as mad as you want, but please… no more booze for now. You've had enough."

Eric stared at his phone in shock, unsure if he'd actually heard her say what she just had. The words turned over in his mind for a few seconds before he

finally nodded.

"Fine," he grunted. "Be here at nine. Don't be late."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

And then the line went dead. Eric gave one last look at his phone before setting it on the bedside table and lying down, an irritated sigh escaping him.

When he finally fell asleep, his nightmares came back to haunt him, and they were somehow even worse than usual.