Henry Rider: Clown Hunter

Chapter Twenty Nine

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Chapter Twenty Nine

"This is impossible," I whispered, clutching Splatsy in shaking hands.

"We need your help, Henry Rider," they said in unison.

I paused. "W- What?"

They raised their hands, gesturing to the room around us. "This is a place built by evil men for an evil purpose. We were brought here. Experimented on. Harvested like animals."

Their outstretched hands tightened into fists.

"We took back our freedom. But there are other places like this. Other people like us. We must find those places, Henry Rider. We must destroy them."

The one who had been wearing the mask took a threatening step toward me.

"And we must kill those responsible."

I raised Splatsy. "Stay away from me!"

They paused, their expressions unreadable. I'll admit, right then I was so scared that if I hadn't used the bathroom before leaving McGus' place, I would have needed a new pair of underpants. All of this was too much for me to take in at once. The masked man...Legion...whatever he, or they, or it, was...it scrambled my brain like eggs. I couldn't even begin to process their story, or this place, except...

Except that if they were telling the truth — and I couldn't think of why they would lie — then that meant they weren't bad guys.

"Help us, Henry Rider," they said again. Their voices were mostly monotone, but I thought I could detect a hint of desperation in their words.

"What does any of this have to do with me?" I asked.

"More than you realize. You will understand soon."

"But..." I paused and took a deep breath. "What would I have to do?"

Legion fixed their eyes on me. "Bring us the boy."

I froze. "Why?"

"You know the power he holds inside himself."

"His laughter?"

"Yes. With that, we can create a weapon that the ones who built this place will be defenseless against."

Something about that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Why would they need Ethan's laughter? What kind of weapon did they think they could make out of it? And who would they use it against? After all, it wasn't like laughter could ever...hurt...

"No," I whispered as horrible realization dawned on me.

Across from me, Legion's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What?"

I shook my head, pressing my back even harder against the wall. "You- You want to make Ethan's laughter like yours! And you want to use it to kill klaons!"

Slowly, they nodded. "Yes. A weapon to destroy the evil that caused us so much pain."

Holding Splatsy in one hand, I finally reached for the Cube with my other. "Well, forget it! I won't help you murder my own people!"

My fingers closed around the Cube, but I froze when Legion took a step toward me — all of them.

"How disappointing," they said with a threatening edge in their voice. "We had begun to think that you were different."

They began to spread out, surrounding me. I gulped. With my back to the wall, I had nowhere to run.

"We thought that perhaps you actually cared for human lives, unlike your brethren."