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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
- 2
- 3
- 4
Author's Note: Hello world and my wonderful readers! Sorry if it seems like most of this chapter is basically Delilah reiterating all the seasons, but it's not, I promise! We find out a little bit about her and as well as Madison, a member of her group. Madison is a barrel of laughs and meant to come off as wacky, NOT obnoxious!
The inspiration for this story was based around the idea I came up with of everybody living in a Jelly Belly factory! Lmao I AM OBSESSED WITH JELLY BELLIES! That and the idea is out of the box, which is exactly how I am. The title of the chapter randomly came to me and I didn't want to forget it, and I think it's fitting. Also, the name rhyming game is a rant that I've been on for the past almost two months. SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME THEY'VE NOTICED ALMOST ALL THE NAMES OF THE CHARACTERS IN TWD RHYME! ;). I hope everybody likes the cover image I made for the story. If you haven't figured it out, Delilah is me. ;P Hehehe sorry but it's true!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE OR JELLY BELLY,. 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, RESPECTIVELY. I ONLY OWN MY OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS AND CHARACTERS.
Chapter Three: Long Way To Paradise
"By the way, Delilah, how have you been surviving for the past year?"
She turned around and smiled at Rick, kind of surprised by her own self that she hadn't told the story sooner. "Remember that semi-truck I mentioned earlier? Right before my sister pushed me, I managed to snatch the keys. That truck has enough supplies in it to last for an eternity. Billy, although incredibly hot, was also a total nerd. He was one of those paranoid basket cases that had to prepare ahead of time for the end of the world. Boy, did he get the last laugh when this went down."
All of the doomsday preppers were indeed laughing their asses off, they had turned out to be the smart ones in the end.
"How far in advance had he been saving up for?" Carl asked as they walked to the end of the cul-de-sac.
"Honestly? About three years, did it all by becoming an extreme couponer. I'm surprised that it all fit in the truck, the rest fit in the BMW. Even if they are alive, that's all they got. You'll see everything when we get to Jellbany."
Rick and Carl shot each other a perplexed look. "Jellbany?"
She nodded. "Yes. Remember the Jelly Belly factory that opened a few years ago? I found it abandoned, that's where I live with my group." They stopped walking and Delilah turned to them. "Sorry if this comes off as odd…"
Before they could ask, she turned back to the street and started making all these strange sounds. At first, they sounded like a bird, but then, it sounded like something else… a dolphin! While bizarre, Rick was more worried about walkers hearing. Sure enough, they did. A trio was coming towards them. As they were about to pull out their weapons, a huge semi-truck sped up and demolished the walkers, killing them instantly. The truck was covered in Hello Kitty decal stickers and had Van Halen's "Dance The Night Away" blasting from it as it halted to a stop and a woman stepped out. She was a curvy red head with hazel eyes, a bulbous nose, and a toothy grin. Her breasts were twice as big as Delilah's and her hips were wider as well, maybe it was the outfit she was wearing of bedazzled high waisted denim shorts, a red T shirt, and flip flops.
"Good Golly Trim Polly! You found them! Aren't you just the smartest girl in all of Georgia?"
Delilah laughed, walking up to her. "I don't know about the smartest, but I do know that I'm driven. I told you we'd find them!" She squealed and jumped in Madison's arms, giving her a big hug. They then proceeded to high five and bump hips, like it was their signature handshake. It kind of made Rick and Carl laugh. Delilah turned back to them. "Rick and Carl Grimes, meet Madison Barker, the fiercest rodeo clown the state of Mississippi has to offer."
Madison cackled a big hearty laugh, making her wobbly bits jiggle. "Damn straight, ten time champion in the tri-county! It is so good to finally meet you both!" She swooped both Rick and Carl up in a huge bear hug, squeezing the life out of them. Delilah couldn't help but start laughing. They both looked a little uncomfortable, but she had caught them off guard, and finally set them down. "We've been hearing so much about y'all from that lovely group of yours. It's Rick this, Carl that, they're both good with a baseball bat! Delilah here has been looking far and wide for you, wanting to help out your friends. She's like Mother Theresa but with bigger and better tits!" Madison started cackling again, it sounded like a deep hyena. She was kooky, but seemed harmless.
"You'll have to excuse her, she's the group's screwball. I guess that's why she turned out to be a rodeo clown." Delilah wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, watching Rick and Carl.
"It's fine, you just caught us a little by surprise is all. We're not used to anybody being overly excited." That was the truth. Despite all the disarray that had transpired over the past couple of years, there were moments of tranquility, even if they were short-lived, it was something one could definitely get used to, and there wasn't anything rowdy going on before all this happened either.
"I don't think anybody is, but that's Maddie for ya. Never a dull moment, though. We ready to get out of here?"
Rick and Carl looked at one another. This was it, the way back home, back to their people. They turned back to her and nodded.
"Yes, we are."
"Perfect. You can sit in the front with us, but you'll have to crouch down. Maddie, give me the keys, I'm driving."
Madison threw her the keys and walked around to the other side of the truck. "Of course there's never a dull moment with Maddie the Bullette! Yee-haw!" Rick and Carl got inside as Madison followed. "I'll be showing you boys some fun times, gotta gets y'all to smile at some point. Come on, Delilah, let's get this show rooten-tooten on the road!"
Delilah rolled her eyes and started the car. "Your lingo is something I still can't get used to, but I'll manage."
Madison imitated a truck fog horn as they drove off.
30 Minutes Later…
They drove on the highway, having to zig zag between the abandoned cars. "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles played on the radio. It was the first car in a long time that had a working clock with the correct time. 8:40 it read, indicating that Rick was close by being able to tell the time by looking at the sky. Madison kept going on and on about her rodeo days.
"There I was, it was me against Big Bertha, the toughest clown in the county. I was determined to beat her. That gun went off and our bulls started racing towards one another, guns blazing. They came at each other so fast that we both got knocked off our asses!" She guffawed, finding this all to be funny. Things still felt a little awkward for Rick and Carl, even though they smiled and nodded. Carl leaned against the metal wall, drifting in and out of sleep. All they could think about was seeing Maggie and the others, and how'd they find the rest. Delilah could feel the tension, and knew that Maddie wasn't helping matters.
"Madison, take it down a notch. You're talking their ears off and they're exhausted. Let them be, I'm sure they've heard enough about rodeo clowns to last them a lifetime."
Her jaw dropped to the floor. "What you talking about? There ain't no way a person could hear 'nuff about them rodeo clowns! Crazy talk."
"I'm just saying, it's not even ten in the morning yet and you're bouncing off the walls." She turned and looked over at her friend with a big smile. "Love ya!"
Madison snorted but smiled back. "Love ya, too."
Rick cleared his throat. "So, Delilah, what exactly have you been told about us, how much do you really know?"
She looked up at him in the rear view mirror, their eyes meeting again. Rick still couldn't place who she reminded him off, and it was driving him crazy. Carl was still a little nervous around her, even though she had tried to make conversation with him throughout the car ride. Delilah wasn't sure if she was mistaken, but she felt a little bit of an attraction between her and Rick. He was obviously checking her out in the house earlier, and he seemed to have some great qualities about him. Intelligence, courage, wanting to rationalize situations, leadership, politeness, and she could already tell he was handsome underneath his mangled beard. Could she really get involved with a widower? It made her think back on something her mother said long ago, about never being with a widower because you'll never live up to the deceased spouse. Would he even want to get involved with her? Now she was getting ahead of herself, nothing would happen because he would probably leave once everybody was back together. Delilah sighed, this was going to be a long story.
"Well, I know that you were shot not too long before the apocalypse broke out, and when you woke up, everybody and everything as you knew it was gone. You went to Atlanta and after getting trapped in a tank, Glenn rescued you and brought you with him and his group, where you were reunited with Carl and your wife, Lori. After that, you selflessly went back trying to save Daryl's brother Merle, but he was M.I.A. but stole the truck you had. When you got back, there was a zombie attack that killed Andrea's sister Amy and Carol's asshole husband Ed. From there, you all went to the Center for Disease Control to see if there was a cure yet, but all you got was a night of solitude in exchange for a batch of crazy when Dr. Jenner tried to lock you in for the CDC explosion. Everybody managed to escape, but one of your members, Jacqui, decided to stay behind with The Mad Doctor when the building blew up.
I know that after Atlanta, you went to Fort Benning where Carol's daughter Sophia went missing and Carl got shot, which is how you met The Greenes. Hershel saved Carl but then your buddy Shane ended up going psycho and releasing the zombies that were hidden in the farm, one of them being Sophia. On one of your trips into town, you got ambushed by some gang and ended up taking one of their members back to the farm when he got impaled. You were going to let him go but changed your mind. The kid was either going to live or die, but Shane ended up snapping his neck. You lost another one of your group members, Dale, when his stomach was ripped open by a surprise zombie attack. I know that before all that happened, you found out that Lori and Shane were having an affair and that she was pregnant. Some best friend if you ask me. The two of you got into it, you killed Shane, and Carl had to shoot him when he reanimated, which alerted the walkers and you all had to get the hell out of there. Beth's husband Jimmy died and you ended up losing Andrea. They weren't too happy to hear about Shane, but being the noble man that I've been told you are, you promised to keep to your word about protecting the group.
Once you left the farm, the group became nomads until you found the abandoned prison, which to your surprise, wasn't entirely abandoned. There were five inmates there, two were killed but you split up the inventory with the rest and lived in separate cell blocks. I was told that Hershel was bitten by a zombie and you had to cut half his leg off. The inmate that you left in the zombie infested basketball court ended up making it out of there alive and triggered the alarm system, alerting the zombies. Everybody got separated in the midst of the chaos. I know that Lori went into labor and Maggie was the one to perform the C-section to deliver Judith by cutting her open. She didn't make it, but the baby did, and Carl had to shoot Lori to prevent her from rising from the dead. It all kind of caused you to have a nervous breakdown, and it got worse when Merle ended up kidnapping Glenn and Maggie and bringing them to Woodbury. Michonne saw the whole thing and came to the prison, she then brought you back to Woodbury, but not before finding out that Carol actually lived because T-Bone sacrificed himself for her. There was an accidental killing in Woodbury. You rescued Glenn and Maggie but lost Daryl, he came back with Merle. I know The Governor attacked the prison and you found out Andrea was still alive and had been rescued by Michonne before being brought to Woodbury. You tried to make peace with The Governor, but he'd only back off if you sacrificed Michonne, since she killed his daughter and stabbed him in the eye. You gave her up but Merle let her go, then somehow he was killed and Daryl had to shoot him. The Governor launched another attack on the prison and everybody repelled, but also lost Andrea. I know you brought a lot of the residents of Woodbury back to the prison, including Tyresse and Sasha, both of whom you previously rejected.
Everything was going pretty great for six months until the damn swine flu broke out. After getting medicine, things were almost back to normal until The One Eyed Freak kidnapped Michonne and Hershel, and invaded the prison with a new group of warriors and a tanker. Again, you tried to be amicable and say that their group could reside in a different cell block of the prison, but he wasn't having any of it and chopped Hershel's head off. Following that, everything else was a haze of gun fire and more walkers. Glenn was on the bus with the kids and it sped off before Maggie, Tyresse, Sasha, and Bob had a chance to get on it. Everybody went their own separate ways. I found the foursome a few days later at a gas station when I was on a supply run. They were like you, skeptical at first, but they finally agreed to come along. Ever since then, we've spent every day looking for the rest of your group, taking shifts and scouting out locations. And that's everything I know."
There was a long silence following, with the exception of the radio and Madison picking her nails. Rick and Carl were dumbfounded after hearing the past two years reiterated for them by a stranger. It was a lot for anybody to take in, but it had been even harder to actually live and endure it.
"Wow, you really weren't kidding when they filled you in on everything, huh?"
"Yeah, it's like you know us." Carl said.
She shrugged. "Well, like I previously mentioned, I've been informed on every single detail. Many, many times. It was mostly Glenn and Maggie, but I don't mind. With a search like this, it's important to know as much as you can about the person."
Rick nodded. "I agree." Delilah was a beautiful girl and very admirable in his eyes. She seemed tough, fierce, strong-minded, intuitive, as well as being sweet and witty. He could understand why Carl was so shy around her, but he'd be lying if he didn't admit to himself that in the forty five minutes he had known her, she had made his heart beat a little bit faster than normal. "Why are you wanting to help us, though?"
"Why not? It's more than me trying to redeem myself for being a spoiled brat. It's because if there was a way to reconnect with my family again, I wouldn't hesitate to take it. I am doing it out of the goodness of my heart and to reinstate hope for the future within them, I don't want to let them down. That, and once you're all connected, I hope you'll stay with us at Jellbany. We can't afford to be selective of our alliances at this moment in time. We're all good people, and we're stronger together than we are apart."
Rick was blown away by her insightful reply, and wanted to believe her. A part of him already did. The apocalypse had transformed most people into bottom dwellers, it was rare to find somebody without an ulterior motive. That motive may have been getting them all to stay at Jellbany, but she was doing it for their benefit and not her own.
"You're right. May I ask how old you are, Delilah?"
She scoffed. "Why, does my age tell you something about my answer?"
"No, I'm just curious."
"I'm twenty two, how about yourself? Madison here is thirty one."
"I'm thirty eight and Carl is fourteen. You're very wise for your age is all."
"Thank you, I appreciate that. It's what happens when books are your only friends and life isn't perfect. Is there anything else you want to fill me in on that I should know? Aren't you worried about Phillip The One Eyed Freak and his militia?"
He shook his head. "Not entirely. We got into a physical brawl and Michonne stabbed him in the heart right before he was about to kill me. I have no idea what to make of the rest of them, I'm sure they've all scattered away."
"You're probably right about that." There was a second brief silence and Delilah gulped, unsure if she should say what she was thinking. She looked up into the rear view mirror at Rick. "I'm sorry to both of you about your loss. Lori." He looked up into the mirror and saw sincerity in her eyes.
"Thank you, that's very kind of you."
"I know what it's like to lose somebody, family especially. One of the hardest things a person can undergo, but it really does make us stronger. At least you two have each other."
Delilah was never really close with her father, but always regretted not going off with her mother to Europe. She could only imagine how things were there, and wondered if she'd ever see her mother again, or if Christine and Billy were dead or alive. If she saw them again, she wouldn't know what to say. They purposely pushed her into a mosh pit of zombies, how could they ever be forgiven? She couldn't help but wonder if her suspicions of the two of them messing around behind her back were true…
"Hey! Isn't it odd that all these names rhyme?" Madison broke Delilah away from her thoughts of the past.
"Huh?" She turned over, still a bit dazed, and looked at her.
"Think about it! Carl, Carol, Daryl, Merle, Hershel, Dale? I mean, haven't you ever thought about it, Carl?"
"No?"
Madison started going over it again, but this time, in sing-song. "Carl, Carol, Daryl, Merle, Hershel, Dale. Lori, Maggie, Jacqui, Jimmy, Amy, Lizzie, Mika, Andrea, Sophia, Patricia, and whoops! Now we can add Delilah! Carl, Carol, Daryl, Merle-"
"MADISON!"
"Hershel, Dale, Lori, Maggie Jacqui, Jimmy, Amy, Lizzie, Beth, Judith,"
Realizing she wasn't going to stop, the three of them burst into laughter. It felt good to be able to laugh again and genuinely mean it. Laughter was something that The Grimes boys had been without for a long time, and they were willing to put up with the bumbling bull rider to get more of it…
25 Minutes Later…
Delilah turned onto Jelly Belly Lane and pulled up into the parking lot of the factory. To her, Madison, and the others, this was home, but to Rick and Carl, it was nothing more than new surroundings.
"Rick and Carl Grimes, I present to thee, Jellbany! Welcome!"
WHAT DO WE THINK SO FAR? WILL RICK AND CARL END UP STAYING WITH DELILAH AND HER GROUP? FIND OUT EVERYTHING AND MORE IN CHAPTER FOUR: JELLYBANY!
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Forever Rising Phoenix