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Forever Rising Phoenix	By : ImagineLayla131 Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 7147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE. ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT, AMC, ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE. NO MONEY/PROFIT IS BEING MADE OFF OF THIS FANFICTION!

Chapter List
- 18
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- 20
Hello world and my wonderful readers! How is everybody doing?
I bent the continuity rules a little bit because I am obsessed with "What Makes A Good Man?" and I figured it would be perfect for the scene!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE, JELLY BELLY, OR WHAT MAKES A GOOD MAN. ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT AND AMC (TELEVISION SERIES), ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE (COMIC BOOK SERIES), DAVID KLEIN AND THE JELLY BELLY COMPANY, AND THE HEAVY, RESPECTIVELY. I ONLY OWN MY OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS AND CHARACTERS.
Chapter Nineteen: The Free in The Dead World, Part Two
In and out, remember that. Grab whatever you see. The sooner you get it out, the sooner you can leave and go back to the others. Back to Rick.
Delilah took a deep breath, one that she soon regretted due to the overwhelming smell of decaying bodies. She was about to gag when she heard a noise that sounded like crying.
Someone's here.
Delilah listened closely.
It's a girl crying, that must be why there's all these extra walker bodies.
"Hello?" She called out, her voice bounced off the walls and echoed throughout the cell block, but the girl kept crying. Delilah walked slowly up the stairs and followed the crying to the last cell at the end of the hall. She walked in cautiously to find a girl sitting on the bottom bunk, holding onto something, her back to the doorway. There was a baby bassinet in the room, so it had to be Carl and Judith's. Delilah stood there, watching this girl cry, unsure of how to approach her. "Are you ok?"
The girl gasped and jumped a little at Delilah's voice before slowly turning around, a fearsome expression on her face and her body trembled as she grabbed a huge rifle from the ground. Delilah guessed she was probably around Maggie's age, if not a year or two older, she was thin with short dark hair worn in a tiny ponytail, a jellyroll nose with small lips and big brown eyes. Delilah held her hands up in surrender. "Whoa, don't shoot! I'm not dangerous, I swear! Here," She took off the flamethrower backpack and her helmet to show the girl her face, which seemed to make her calm down a bit and lower the rifle. "All I want to do is talk, I promise I'm not going to hurt you. Maybe I can help you. What's your name, for starters? I'm Delilah." She looked down on the bed to see what she had been holding on to when she first walked in. It was a picture frame with a photograph of a young boy with his mom and dad, she had a hard time making out the picture because it was upside down, but the boy and the dad looked familiar.
Wait a second, they look like Rick and Carl! This has to be the picture! I FOUND IT, I FOUND IT!
"I'm Tara."
Delilah was so distracted by the picture that she almost didn't hear her. Even though she wanted to scream and shout in joy, Delilah had to help this girl out, she looked so sad and frightened. "Tara? That's a nice name."
"Our mother loved Gone With The Wind."
She smiled. "Well, that's something we have in common. My middle name is Scarlett." Tara weakly smiled over that. "Please, tell me what's wrong so I can try to help."
Tara calmed down a bit and looked at her. "This guy, Brian, he got a whole bunch of us together, said the people in this prison were bad, a bunch of killers and thieves that had attacked the town he was living in, that they needed to be taken out so we could stay at the prison. He kidnapped two of them, an old guy with one leg and a black chick with a sick katana, said they needed to be taught a lesson. When we first met him, Brian was a little standoffish and kept to himself, maybe because of the eye patch, but after he got some oxygen for my cancer ridden dad and saved my niece, he was actually a chill dude. Meghan's dad up and left three years before the shit hit the fan, she really took a liking to Brian, and my sister Lily even started dating him."
Delilah knew right away that she was talking about Hershel, Michonne, and The Governor, but she couldn't say anything yet, so she just nodded, waiting for the girl to finish.
"We looked at him as our leader and protector, of course we were going to follow his orders. When we got here and Brian started talking to the one in charge of the prison, he didn't seem to be such a bad guy, not like Brian had made him out to be. This guy had a damn army tanker and people with loaded guns staring him down, and what does he do? He offers to set aside differences and let all of us stay in a separate cell block. In my opinion, that's not just a man, that's a hero."
Delilah smiled to herself, this girl didn't even know Rick and she had managed to hit the nail on the head.
That's my guy… or maybe not anymore.
"It seemed like a really great offer, but then Brian called him a liar and chopped the old guy's head off with the black girl's sword! Like something out of a fucking Tarantino movie! He went Pulp Fiction on his ass! Then, everything was mass chaos! My girlfriend Alicia told me to stay put and be safe, but when I went after her, I saw her get shot in the head. Everybody in both groups started running around, trying to get the hell out of there. Before it happened, Lily brought Meghan to Brian, she had been bitten by one of these dead fucks, and he had to take her out. I tried to make my way back to my sister after I saw Alicia get shot, but she was surrounded. There were too many of them, and they ate her alive." Tara started crying again at all the memories flooding back. "I was so angry that I took out as many flesh eaters as I could, bashing their heads in with this rifle, and I've been holed up in here, I couldn't go back out there again. There's been plenty of food to last me. I regret it all, every part of it. I regret not letting the two prisoners go, I regret not trying to stop Brian, but I wanted to be protected. How could I have let my guard down and been so weak? The guy in charge of the prison didn't do anything, Brian just made us think that. He lied and played every single one of us! It's because of him that I'm alone. My dad, my sister, my niece, they're all gone!" She cried even harder, burying her face in her hands.
Delilah could tell that Tara was a good person, she had been lead down the wrong path, it happens. Just because she was associated with one's evil plan doesn't mean that they knew the real reason behind it, it was like how Delilah herself couldn't hate every German person simply because Hitler had started The Holocaust that killed some of her relatives in concentration camps. She sat across from Tara on the bed.
"I'm so sorry for your losses. It's not your fault, you can't beat yourself up about it, you were mislead. The guy in charge of the prison and the group that used to live here, they're all good people. Brian was not who he said he was. His name was Phillip, but he went by "The Governor". The two people he kidnapped, Michonne and Hershel, were part of the group. Hershel was the father of two of the girls, Maggie and Beth. The Governor kidnapped Maggie and her husband Glenn, had one of his henchmen beat the crap out of Glenn and humiliated Maggie. Michonne is the reason why he only had one eye. Michonne and Hershel were the good ones, not The One Eyed Freak, who collected nombies heads, even killing innocent people to add to the collection."
Tara looked at her, completely shocked that everything really was a lie, and that she had lost her family because of it. Delilah continued.
"In this world, even before the outbreak, people are cruel and manipulative, you can never be sure who to trust. Except when there is a good person, they will stop at nothing to help those around them, not turning everybody against each other in a death match. After the prison separated, I ran into Maggie and a couple of the people she was with, and we spent almost three months searching the state trying to find the others, and now they're reunited again. We're all living together at the abandoned Jelly Belly factory about an hour away from here. You're all alone, I am not leaving you by yourself. This could be a fresh start for you, you could be with those good people." She tried to smile hopefully at Tara, but looked down at the picture. "Was this picture in here the whole time?" Delilah picked it up and studied the photograph, smiling that she had found it. They all looked so young and happy, it made her think of a picture back at Jellybany that she had of her and her parents when she was little. She looked closely at Lori and could see where the kids looked like her, Delilah thought she was a natural beauty. In an odd way, they kind of looked alike.
"Yes, it was. They look like the picture perfect happy family. Are they with you at the factory?"
Delilah still looked at the picture. "The reason why I'm here is because of this. Rick, the guy in the picture, is sort of my boyfriend. His wife, Lori, died in child birth with their daughter, Judith. We started seeing each other a couple months ago, but kept it a secret. Carl, the little boy, well, he's not so little anymore. He's fourteen now. Anyways, Carl found out and was furious. He and his baby sister had nothing left of their mother, and I remembered that he grabbed this picture when they were in their hometown, so I came here to get it. Everybody told me not to, that I was going to die, but I keep my promises and don't go back on my word." She couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen when they got back. Carl would be happy that he had his picture, but all wouldn't be forgiven, and there was the possibility that Rick wouldn't want to speak to her. Things would probably be very uncomfortable and awkward, it was giving her anxiety.
Tara watched her studying the picture. "Wow, you risked your life just for a picture? You must be very altruistic then."
She gave her a small smile. "Yes, I try to be. I was like you once, lead down the wrong path by the wrong people. It resulted in me being abandoned and on my own. I was scared at first, but I pulled myself together because I knew I was stronger than they thought I was and that I deserved better. So do you, Tara. I can see that there's good in you. Please come back to Jellbany. You don't have to be alone and you won't be scrutinized because of your association with Phillip, the others will be able to see what I see. Please?"
Delilah looked at Tara with hopeful and honest eyes. She was scared, but could tell that Delilah was being genuine and right. This could be a new beginning for her and she didn't have to be alone anymore. "Alright, I'll go." Seeing Delilah's smile broaden made her smile as well.
"I'm really glad, I promise you won't regret it. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, the past is in the past. Now, let's clear out this cell block and get the hell out of here."
AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER
Delilah, Tara, and Daryl all drove back to Jellbany after clearing Cell Blocks C and D. He wasn't too thrilled with her wanting to bring Tara back, but he decided to give her a chance. What could the harm be, The Governor was dead and this girl was riding solo, she didn't seem too threatening. After seeing the damage Tara had done to the walkers, he thought she'd be good to have on their side and they actually had a few things in common.
"Do you think the others will like me?" Tara was kind of nervous to go back and see the people that had been separated due to her involvement with The Governor.
Delilah nodded. "I can see where you'd be a little apprehensive, but you have nothing to worry about. They'll be able to see the good in you like I did. Hell, you've got Daryl on your side, that's a great thing."
"It's because Tara's not a spoiled princess like you are, Lulu."
"Yeah, she's also not a redneck hick like you are, Helter Skelter."
"Just be quiet, Delilah, you'll be back sucking Rick's dick soon enough. If you ask me, he should probably gag you with it to shut 'yer trap."
Delilah rolled her eyes. "Do you always have to be such a dick?"
"No, do you always have to be such a bitch?"
She scoffed and lightly slapped his arm. "I am not! You're a dick!"
"You're a bitch!" He slapped her arm back.
"Dick!"
"Bitch!"
"DICK!"
"BITCH!"
"DICK!"
"BITCH!"
Before Tara knew what was going on, Delilah and Daryl were having a one arm slapping fest, like a classic chick cat fight.
"Quit slapping me!"
"You started it!"
"I did not! You did!"
"You did!"
"You did!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Tara grabbed each of their arms, putting Delilah's at her side and Daryl's back in his lap. "Cool it out, there's no reason to bicker. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were brother and sister." That comment made Delilah scoff.
"I wouldn't have a brother as uncouth as him."
"And I wouldn't have such a brat for a sister, neither."
Her mouth flew open, being in Daryl's presence made her feel so dirty, and not in a good way. He reminded her of boys that were jerks to girls they liked in front of others, but this was ten times worse. She was already anxious and eager to return, she didn't want to show up frazzled, so she let it go. "Asshole." Delilah mumbled under her breath.
"Hey, how about some music?" Tara asked, trying to lighten the mood and calm the situation a bit.
"Alright, but I'm picking. Miss California Teen here has shit taste in music. "It's A Small World", 'nuff said."
"I thought I heard that song!" Tara smiled.
"For the record, I have superb taste in music. I picked that song because I knew that it would draw the nombies to us so we could take them out."
"Whatever you say, but it's my turn now." Daryl pulled out a CD from his case and gave it to Delilah to put in.
""Daryl's Kick-Ass Mix". Wow, should be a best seller with that kind of title." She put the CD in and caught the slightest smirk on his face.
The beginning drum beats of "What Makes A Good Man" by The Heavy started playing as the guitar started leading in. They all started bopping their heads along to the music.
"I stand corrected, dude. You have good taste, too."
"I know."
Tara started singing along to the song, which prompted Delilah and Daryl to join in. They all remembered this song as being one of the last to be released before the outbreak, when times were easier. The lead singer's near Hendrix like vocals and the smoky instrumentals made it a catchy, feel good, kick ass hit. At that moment, the three of them were relaxed and on the same page, bopping their heads to the music and waving their arms back and forth, making the "rock on" hand gesture as they sang along to the chorus.
"To tell me now (tell me now)
'n' show me how (show me how)
To understand (understand)
What makes a good man?
To tell me now (tell me now)
Hey walk the line (walk the line)
Hey understand (understand)
What makes a good man"
Daryl looked over at the girls, watching them laughing as they started doing air guitar and air drums. For the first time all day, despite what she said, he thought that this was the real, genuine, Delilah, letting loose and having fun instead of putting up a pretty front.
THAT WAS A FUN ENDING, DESPITE DARYL BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS! HE REALLY IS FICKLE WITH DELILAH! TARA IS IN THE STORY NOW, YAY! DO YOU TRUST TARA? FIND OUT EVERYTHING AND MORE IN CHAPTER TWENTY, HOMECOMING, COMING SOON!
BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE STORY FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND SPREAD THE WORD! NO FLAMES!
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Forever Rising Phoenix