The Master's Farm — Episode 10: Zero's Truth

Miguel felt panic flooding him. His mind desperately searched for a way out, an explanation, something he could say to fix this.

“I... I dreamed her,” he blurted out quickly, the words stumbling over each other. “I had a dream. I saw a pigsty. And there was someone there. Covered in mud. And I... I thought it was real but I don’t know if it was. And the cows... they mentioned something but I...”

“Lie,” the Master cut him off, his voice like a whip.

Before Miguel could react, the Master grabbed him by the arm, yanked him off the table, and slammed him against the dungeon wall hard.

BAM

The impact knocked the air out of his lungs. The Master held him there, one hand pressing against his chest and the other gripping his jaw, forcing him to look him in the eyes.

“Don’t come at me with bullshit about dreams,” the Master growled, bringing his face close to Miguel’s. “How do you know about Zero? Who told you about her?”

“No one... no one, I swear...” Miguel trembled, tears running down his cheeks.

The Master squeezed harder. His fingers dug into Miguel’s flesh.

“Last chance, Four. Tell me the truth or this is going to get very ugly for you.”

Miguel sobbed, trying to look away but the Master wouldn’t let him.

“Please... please don’t hurt me... I didn’t know what I was saying... I just... when the cows told me...”

He stopped.

Shit.

The Master loosened his grip a little, his eyes widening with understanding.

“The cows?” he repeated slowly.

Miguel shut his eyes tightly, cursing inwardly.

“So they told you about Zero?”

Miguel didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He had screwed everything up again.

The Master let him go abruptly, making Miguel fall to his knees on the floor. He turned around, grabbed his hair with both hands, and began pacing back and forth, speaking out loud, processing.

“It couldn’t have been the three of them... only One was there when the thing with Zero happened. The others came later. One had only been here a short time... How much do they know? How much did she tell them?”

Miguel, still on the floor, trembling, interrupted him in a broken voice but with a trace of anger he couldn’t hold back.

“What did you do to her?”

The Master stopped dead.

He turned slowly toward Miguel.

And laughed.

A low, dark, almost sinister laugh.

He walked over to Miguel, crouched in front of him, and slapped him.

SMACK

It wasn’t as hard as the others. It was more of a warning than a punishment. But it hurt. His cheek burned.

The Master grabbed his cheeks with one hand, squeezing them, making Miguel look straight at him.

“Do you really want to know?” he asked with a twisted smile.

Miguel, eyes full of tears but ...