Book 3 | Agent 34 and the Storm of Darkness

Chapter 12 | Calvin Returns

The soldier stumbled into the Zena's open courtyard weakly with three kids following closely behind him. As soon as he entered, he fell face forward onto the pristine grass and went unconscious. The children quickly followed pursuit, and the guards on duty in the courtyard ran to retrieve them quickly.

When Calvin awoke, he was in a white medical bed with Frain's children in beds beside him. Calvin ached from walking all the way to the Zena, all while bringing these children with him.

Over the course of their month-long journey, Calvin had come to know more about Frain's children. The oldest one, Benjamin, but preferred to go by Ben, was fourteen years old. Rose was the middle child, and was only seven. Carter was five, and had no clue where his father or mother was. No one dared to discuss that topic.

Ben's eyes slowly opened. "What's going on?" He asked, looking around the room.

"We made it," Calvin said simply. "We are at the Zena!"

Ben's eyes lit up with excitement. "We did it! We crossed the entire continent in a month and made it to the Zena! We are safe from that evil city now!"

Rose shifted in her bed. Neither of them knew she was awake. "I hope Dad makes it."

"Your father should survive," Calvin said, remembering what Frain had said: I cannot kill you, Sarah. Calvin couldn't remember his exact words, but that was what his point was when he said them. "He is a tough guy,"

"Where is Mommy? Where's Daddy?" 

Everyone looked at the young Carter, who sat up in his bed. No one answered him until the door at the front of the room opened and in walked a woman dressed in a white coat and a black shirt with long pants.

The woman sat a clipboard on the countertop in the corner and pulled a chair out from under it. Once she was sat upon it, she rubbed her eyes and looked at the four of them with wonder. "Now, explain what's going on to me right now."

Calvin swallowed hard. "I am Calvin, a soldier in the Zena's forces. I was assigned to Commander Zad's squadrant, which was assigned to go scout out Urania. Once we made it there, all of us were divided to search out any survivors because the city looked abandoned. Then it started raining and Zad turned evil and–"

"Okay, what? How did he just magically turn evil? Because I'm pretty sure we check every commander or leader now before we send them out with troops. He couldn't have just decided to turn on us." The doctor said, writing something on her clipboard.

"Did I not mention the giant storm hovering above Urania?" Calvin said, scratching his head. "Let me restart. When we entered the city, a giant swirling black cloud was hovering above it and slowly growing. After we split up, the cloud began to rain. It wasn't a normal storm. The rain was black and turned you evil if you touched it. Everyone assumes Braunick put it there before he died in one last attempt to rule. Anyways, Zad was outside when it started raining, and I was in a house with a random survivor."

"I have no idea where the rest of the soldiers were, but I assume half survived the rain, the other half turned evil. So, this survivor began to board up the windows and doorways, locking us both inside. He said his name was Frain and he has been traveling across Urania for a week now looking for his family. I looked outside and saw Zad walking around, and called to him, not knowing rain turned you evil."

"Frain explained all of the people who got turned come outside when it rains and if Zad began to try to get inside, it would attract more evils. That's exactly what happened. They slowly began to get inside, and the two of us had to retreat to a bedroom inside the abandoned house. I grabbed a towel and used it to cover me, Frain using some white sheets. We fled the house and into the rain, using the towel and sheets to shield us from the evil rain. Frain began to lead the way back to his house, and once we reached it we found these three inside the basement."

"The five of us prepared to then leave the city, because it had finished raining. Then, their mother was waiting outside. She–she has been turned evil. Her name was Sarah. Sarah was driven insane and evil, and yelled for her children. Frain held her off while I could lead these three to safety. Hopefully, Frain defeated her and he is following us to the Zena right now." 

Calvin sighed as he finished his tale. "That's it. We traveled across the entire continent with no other setbacks and made it here."

The woman scribbled down his words onto her clipboard. "So Urania has gone into an apocalyptic mode?" She asked, brushing her brown hair out of her eye.

"Correct." 

"Can I get the children's names?" The lady asked, beginning to stand up.

"I'm Ben," Ben said as if in a proud manner.

"I'm Rose!" The girl exclaimed.

"My names Carter," the youngest boy said in an annoyed tone. 

The woman began to walk towards the door. "I'm Helena, and I'll be your doctor until you guys are healed up fully. We already examined your wounds and we know how to fix you. You guys just got a few cuts and bruises and are sore, correct?"

Calvin nodded in approval. "Alright, then call me if you need anything, Calvin. Oh, and I need to ask, do you plan on serving in our forces still?" Helena asked as she was in the doorway.

Calvin nodded. "I wish to help the Zena as much as I can,"

Helena swallowed. "You're helping us a lot. You're the only soldier that has returned from Commander Zad's squadrant. We just sent the Destigems to Urania after a few other pit stops, and they have no idea of what it contains. We need to stop them from going,"

"I can do it." Calvin said boldly, sitting up. 

Helena raised an eyebrow towards him. "I can ask Thad, but there's only a small chance he will let you.

"I walked across the continent in the matter of a month, I can do it again." He said, beginning to get out of his bed with ease. "I only have a few cuts and bruises like you said, I can go."

Helena sighed. "Sit back down and I'll tell Lord Thad."

Calvin did as told, and hoped that he could further help the Zena.