Goliath

Prologue 3:57 am

    "Breathe."  David covered his face with his hands and sighed.  "That's good, honey. We just need one more push." Screams at this hour are bound to draw unwanted attention, he thought. 

    Taylor creaked open the cellar door to see his mother on a pile of blankets, her legs on either side of his dad, screaming.  He held his breath as he scurried over and tugged on his father's sleeve. He didn’t even take note of it.  Taylor finally gained his father’s attention after what felt like agonizing minutes, the look on his father's face told him he's not supposed to be here.

    David took his son by the shoulders. "Please, go back downstairs. It's not safe for you here," he pleaded, stress marking lines in his forehead. "Everything will be okay in the morning."  Taylor glances over to his mother, Amelia.  Sweat stained her face, pain evident in the way she moved. "Tay..." she breathed through clenched teeth, "You need to listen to your father. They might come, and you don't want them to see you."

    "Mommy, I just wanna to help you.  What's going on?" Taylor asked, innocence dripping in his tone.

    "Don't worry, darling.  I'll be okay.” She lied, “Go back downstairs, Tay."

    Taylor reluctantly dropped his head and made his way back to the door.  He knew he was old enough to help.  His mom always told him that he was a big boy capable of anything.  "I love you, Mom," he said with tears, starting down the stairs without closing the door behind him.  David ran over to the door to close it as pounding echoed throughout the house.

    "Disciples! Open up!"

    David slammed the door and ran to help his wife.  Fear started to creep it’s way into his thoughts.

    "We have been sent here to check on your wife, who hasn't been seen in some time."

Pound. Pound. Pound.  

    The idea of death immediately comes to David's mind. The Disciples are the society's most fearsome enforcers.  They work right under the president to uphold his bidding, and once they receive their orders, the only way they fail is with their lives.

    "Just save Taylor," Amelia whispered.  David shook his head and tried to pick her up to take her downstairs. "With your position, you'll just get demoted if you cooperate..." she continued.  

    He moved to his knees to look his wife in the eyes and said, “No.”  

    In that moment, David’s only shred of hope was that if the Disciples spared their lives, which they never do.  

Pound. Pound. Pound. 

    "We're only going to ask one more time, Arch.  Open up, or we have the presidential right to use force." 

    "David, hurry. I don't know how much time we have, and I don't want to die alone with our daughter."  They hurriedly kissed.  "I'll be okay. I love you."

    "I love you, too," David mouthed, tears began to stain his cheeks. He concealed the wall to hide the cellar. He wiped his tears, to no avail.  As he reached for the door, all he could look at were his trembling hands.  Fear no longer was just creeping in, it had settled it’s claws deep within him.  David put on his best facade and opens the door.  "Hello, Disciples. What seems to be the problem?"  

    Three tall, grizzly men stood outside the Farr's door. "Sir, do you mind if we come in and talk for a minute?" bellowed the tallest of the three men.

    David looked down at his watch, he managed to stutter, "I-t's l-ate. Could we hold this off until tomorrow morning?" The Disciples pushed him aside, striding into the kitchen.

    "Sir, we have been informed to come check on your family," the taller of the three men declared.  Amelia tried to hush her newborn child, but her baby still caught their attention. They stormed into the living room, as if they owned the place, to see the scene.  "So the rumors are true.  Your wife has carried an illegal child and has clearly given birth within the hour," said the tall man, who clearly was the leader among the three.  

    Amelia tried to stand to face them but stumbled to her knees with exhaustion. David ran over to her side and kissed her and grasped her hand.  "Please, don't you have any mercy? A spark of humanity to at least let us keep the baby?" David said, choking down tears. 

    "Believe it or not, this is the most humane thing that we can do. Putting your wife and that so called baby out of their misery. That thing will only be born into Hell. It is an abomination. And for your wife--well, just look at her. She's crying in pain, as if only an inch from death. This is why natural pregnancies are seen as unholy. Arch, you know this! This is your Goddamn department."

    David looked up at the man with infuriating eyes, rage bubbling from deep within him. "Don't you ever say that, again. My wife isn't crying from pain; she's crying from fear. All we want is to keep our baby girl. One born from love, not in some forsaken lab. I may be the Head of The Birthing Department, but it doesn't mean I condemn it or agree with the consequences."

    Amelia pulled her husband toward her to give him a scolding look. Opinions so severe can't be expressed without their own atonement. "You're not helping our case, David," she hissed under her breath, just quiet enough for the men not to hear. 

    Taylor tiptoed his way up the stairs to put a face to the voices he's been listening to in the cellar.  He pushed on the door with no avail, and knocked to signal his family.  Three knocks, that's what it takes for the door to be unlocked.  Taylor counted it out as his palm hit the unmoving door. 

One. Two. Three.  

    David and Amelia both heard the knocks from the wall, a jolt of fear going through them at that moment. The men took notice and started to walk toward the direction of the knocking.  David decided that this was his only chance to try to save his family.  As the three men took their first steps, David was at his feet and jumped the third man.  They tumbled down and the other two men turned around to help their fellow comrade.  David landed a single punch in the gut of the Disciple he took down, but only one.  The other two men pulled David off of the Disciple like he weighed close to nothing, and pinned him to the wall by his shoulders.  The weight of their force sent searing pains through David’s shoulder blades. 

    "Sir, our orders were to investigate the situation and handle whatever problems that occur.”  To show their dedication, the man David took down, landed a few punches and a knee to the stomach before releasing their clutches off of him. “We will not hesitate to return you to your maker."

    Tears are forming in the now defeated Arch's eyes.  As he attempted to stand up and lay his life out for his family, he was pinned by one of the men.  The only act left he could do was close his eyes as he heard the first kicks meet his wife's abdominal.  

    Taylor slowly slid down the cellar door in shock.  He heard what was going on beyond the thin walls, and knew that soon it would be silent.  He despised this feeling that overtook him.  It felt like drowning in quicksand, lost in the ocean, and falling out of the sky all at once.  Claustrophobic yet also in a field of open flames.  The best way the young mind could process it was helplessness. Tears began to shed.

    Each man took turns abusing Ameila, laughing as if it was a dirty joke shared between teenage boys. The sound of their blows reaching Ameila’s body echoed through the chaos of even a crying newborn.  All David could do was listen, and that he did.  Wailing coming from the newborn, cries of pain escaping his wife, the kicks from the men, and the ever so quiet sobs of his son through the walls.

    Amelia didn’t know what hurt worse, giving birth or the men abusing her. She tried to shield it as much as she could, but nothing seemed to stop the pain. The men seemed fueled with a rage beyond this world.  Their kicks never ceased. One after another.  Soon, all she prayed for was a quick death.

    "It's time. We've proved our point, now it's time to take care of our business." The man unclips his holster to pull out his pistol. "Any last words?" he taunted, aiming it at her.

    Disciples, she thought, yeah right, serving no God of mine. 

    "Go to Hell," Amelia spit at him.

    "I guess I'll see you there." said the tall Disciple.

    “NO”, yelled Taylor through the cellar door.

Bang.