Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

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
- 35
- 36
- 37
Hello world and my wonderful readers! THIS IS IT, THE MOMENT THAT WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE BELOW, VERY IMPORTANT!
The reason I left Billy and Christine's fate ambiguous was all because of this chapter right here, which I've been writing and rewriting since Chapter 3! This means that Chapter 30, their first actual appearance outside of a mention or flashback, was thought of and written after this, but it had always been part of the plan to have them be with Carol. Their unexpected arrival will not only effect Delilah immensely, but the others in both groups. I put so much thought, work, and emotion into this chapter, and it's all lead up to this, what I'm hoping is my "perfect chapter". Even without the Author's Notes, it's the longest chapter in the story as of now, but it's so jam packed witch action that it's totally worth it and makes the story go by faster! I kept hearing that intense electric guitar and drum melody from "Black Skinhead" by Kanye West, more commonly recognized from the Motorola commercial or The Wolf of Wall Street trailer, when I was writing the fight scene. CRAZY!
Also, another warning is that this chapter highlights a side of Delilah that has never been seen until now. She's not psychotic, she's rightfully beyond infuriated, and she's also not narcissistic when she's talking about her talents. It's implied in this chapter that before the outbreak, Delilah's career was in the stages of taking off thanks to some big names interested in her multi-talents and Billy had a bit of a jealousy streak over it.
Thanks so much to my reviewer Jessica! You rock and your reviews are awesome. I'd love to get in contact to ask your opinion on future storylines! :)
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR HAVE ANY AFFILIATIONS WITH THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE . ALL PROPERTIES OWNED BY FRANK DARABONT AND AMC (TELEVISION SERIES), ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE (COMIC BOOK SERIES), RESPECTIVELY. I ONLY OWN MY OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS AND CHARACTERS.
WARNING: VERY INTENSE BRUTAL VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, NASTY RAGE, AND AN ENDING THAT WILL RIP YOUR HEART OUT!
Chapter Thirty Six: Knocked Down and Knocked Out
Rick felt Delilah lightly trembling in his arms, and the others noticed that, along with the look on her face. They looked over between the couples and started whispering to each other on who it could possibly be. Maggie, Beth, and Tara remembered how she mentioned at the slumber party that her ex-fiancé looked like Chace Crawford, which this guy did, and the girl had the same shaped eyes and long dark eyelashes as Delilah, and that's when it set in who these two people most likely were. Delilah froze, unable to believe that this was actually happening and had to see it for herself. She slowly turned around until coming face to face with the two of them as silence draped over the factory, everybody realizing that from this moment on, the present was now in the past and things would never again be what they once were.
Billy and Christine. Her fiancé. Her sister. The people that abandoned her and the last two people she ever wanted to see again in this or any other world, and they both looked like they just witnessed a ten car pile up accident. In an odd moment, the three of them slowly blinked, one right after the other, to see if it was really who they thought it was.
Christine was a little thinner than the last time they saw each other, but still kind of heavy. Her dishwater blonde hair was much longer, almost as long as Delilah's, it was difficult to tell if it was because of hair extensions or not. Even in an apocalypse, Christine couldn't dress for shit, wearing too short and too tight of purple velour sweatpants and a terrible orange fringe sweater with a dark lime green cotton tank top and a pair of brown loafers, she looked like a sloppy ragamuffin. Despite being on the other end of the room, Delilah could easily make out faint dark circles under her brown eyes, regardless of the heavy caked on makeup and obvious fake bake spray tan.
"Delilah? Is that you?"
Billy, on the other hand, still looked as handsome as the first day Delilah laid eyes on him when she was twelve and he was eighteen. His hair, a shade of brown darker than hers, was still in the same hairstyle that he always wore, albeit a little bit shorter and more sun kissed, his light green-blue eyes seemed more luminous. He was still built and chiseled like a Roman god, wearing a black Lacoste shirt and dark blue jeans with black and blue Nikes. Delilah could easily make out his tattooed sleeve, which was the only thing that set him apart from his doppelganger, Chace Crawford. In an odd way, since they both had close to the same color hair, eyes and almost the same skin tone, Billy and Delilah could have been almost mistaken as brother and sister.
"Chickpea? You're alive?"
"Chickpea" had been one of Billy's pet names for her, and she had rhymed it up by calling him "Babeadee" so they could be "Chick Pea and Babeadee". Delilah didn't answer, all she did was stare at them, her heartbeat increasing by the second and a grimace forming on her previously horrified face despite her consternation being easily sensed. She didn't even notice that Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, Daryl, Tara, Madison, Ivan, Matt, and Carol were still in the factory. Along with the nightmare of what happened in Texas, another occurring nightmare she had was what it would be like if she saw Billy and Christine again and what she would do.
Everybody kept looking back and forth between Delilah and the two of them, the tension was rising at an alarming rate, nobody knew what was going to happen, thanks to the current validation of who exactly these people were that caused this reaction. Even though they had the exact same eye shape and dark lashes, Christine and Delilah looked absolutely nothing alike, and they didn't even sound the same. Christine had a bit of a drawl while Delilah's voice was more peppy and melodic.
"Delilah?" Rick tried to reach out to her, but she was unreceptive and stepped out of his hold, glaring at her sister and ex. The events of that entire day began swirling in her head, along with assumed images of Billy and Christine intimately together and what could have been had he not abandoned Delilah. She began to walk over to them.
Billy was kind of unfazed, he was stunned to see her, that she was actually alive. He would have recognized her backside anywhere, it was the basis for the name change of his band when they were dating, going from "Led Monkey" to "Delilah's Ass". He was happily surprised at how amazing she looked from the front as well, much better than the sister he unfortunately chose. Every day, several times a day in the past almost eighteen months, Billy looked at the picture of the two of them that he kept in his wallet, but the real thing was so much better in person. She was still toned and stacked, the way her clothes clung to her magnificent breasts that he could never stop fondling, her outstanding legs that went for miles that used to be wrapped around him, her luscious lips that he used to kiss for hours, he'd be lying if he admitted he wasn't aroused.
Christine, on the other hand, was visibly upset, the guilt setting in. Rick noticed that Delilah began to pick up the pace, she was practically storming, and he became even more worried, knowing something bad was about to happen. Christine had her mouth open, ready to speak.
"Elle, I'm so sorry-"
She was cut off by her baby sister growling at her, and Delilah began running faster, fully determined to assail both of them. Snapping out of wonderment, Billy stepped in front of Christine to protect her, but Delilah punched him in the jaw and kicked him in the crotch with the ball of her foot, shoving him out of the way as he groaned in pain and lunged at her sister, sending them both to the ground. Maggie, Beth, Tara, Carol, and Madison loudly gasped as Delilah banged Christine's head against the floor, yanking her by the hair and punching her in the face, the scowl still intact as she watched her sister struggle for liberation from the clutches of rancorous fury.
"SWEET DREAMS, BIG SISTER, YOU FUCKING BITCH!"
Remorse was gone and now replaced by rage. Christine rolled them over and slapped Delilah across the face, then gave her a "titty twister" from the old days. Delilah grunted from the sting before sitting up and returning the action twice as hard.
"Not my boobs! You'll rupture my implants!"
"I don't care, I'll rip them out and shove them in your face!"
The "twisters" didn't last long. Delilah grabbed Christine by the shoulders, slamming her down on the ground, regaining the position on top and started punching Christine again, before her hands clamped around her older sister's throat and her knees dug into her biceps. Christine desperately gasped for air and was able to wrangle her arms free. She pulled Delilah by the shirt collar and tried to stretch it, but Delilah raised her knee up and hit her in the chin, which Christine weakly followed with a punch to the neck, temporarily knocking the wind out of both of them. By force, Delilah pulled herself together, then grabbed a fistful of Christine's hair and yanked it out, causing her to scream.
"My hair!"
"It's not your hair, it's a damn rat's nest of extensions! You won't need hair where you'll be going. HELL!"
Christine growled and pounced, sending Delilah on her back, but not for long as Delilah kicked her in the stomach and flipped Christine over her head. This was as intense as the final battle scene between Simba and Scar in The Lion King, with one wanting revenge and the other wanting power, not stopping until one of them ultimately faltered.
"Girl Fight! Girl Fight! Woo-Hoo! Titty Twisters all around!" Daryl pumped his fist, obviously getting a kick out of the whole scene. Sure, it reminded him a little bit of the fight he was forced to have with his own brother in Woodbury brought on by The Governor's demand, but this was different, Delilah's sister deserved every blow. "If only it was in the mud…" Merle would have been having the time of his life watching this.
"DELILAH!" Rick pushed off from the table, trying to go to her, but was pulled back by Daryl before he could make it to the other side of the room.
"Lay off and let them get it all out." His statement made Rick's already worried expression turn into an angry one.
"THEY'LL KILL EACH OTHER!"
Daryl scoffed. "No way, man. This was a long time coming if you judge by the looks of it." He turned to Glenn and nodded his head to the side. "Hey, Glenn. Grab Ty, but take your time. I'm enjoying this fight."
"Hurry!" Maggie said as Glenn ran out to find him. All the others could do was watch, secretly afraid of getting caught in the crossfire. The throws, slaps, and punches were getting more severe from this overexertion. Delilah had managed to grab Christine's nasty sweater and yanked the collar so hard that it caused the material to rip clear down the middle, exposing her tank top that accentuated her stomach rolls.
She was viscously beating her sister, blood was gushing from Christine's mouth and nose, Rick saw her spit a tooth out, and they were both pulling each other's hair, screaming and groaning. When the pain in his groin had finally subsided, Billy got to his feet and tried to pull Christine out from under her, only for Delilah to grab onto his forearm and take a deep bite before she head butted him.
"OW! FUCK!" He shouted, holding both hands on his head as he stumbled backwards once again. Rick was incredibly freaked out, this was bringing him back to that fight with The Governor at the prison as they started trying to gauge each other's eyes out before both were sitting up and had their hands around the other's throat, slapping each other across the face or trying to slap the other one's hand away.
"Not my nose!"
"When I'm done with you, it'll be all over your face!"
"I'll kill you, Christine! You took my boyfriend and tried to kill me! YOU RUINED MY FUCKING LIFE!"
"Not unless I kill you first, Delilah! He went willingly! Your life was already ruined long before that!"
Tyresse came in with Glenn, Michonne, Bob, and Sasha running right behind him. He swooped Delilah up, finally dragging her away, while Billy helped Christine to her feet. Delilah's arms and legs flailed as she attempted to break free from the strong man's hold.
"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN, NOW! I'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN WITH HER! THAT CUNT NEEDS TO DIE! AND THAT ASSHOLE!"
"What will more bloodshed solve?!" Tyresse shouted, instantly regretting what he just said. Although trying to be cautious, it was more as if the earlier spoken words were now thrown back in her face. Delilah's anger only deepened and her adrenaline was far past what would be considered a high point.
"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING RAT'S ASS FUCK! I WANT THEM DEAD, I WANT TO LAUGH AS THEY SUFFER AT MY HANDS AND BEG ME FOR THEIR LIVES, WORSE THAN WHAT THEY PUT ME THROUGH!"
This was a side of Delilah nobody in either of the groups had seen before. Sure, she could be a little brash and sarcastic at times, but she was always kind hearted with good intentions, putting others before herself. The girl they saw now was unrecognizable. Her hair disheveled, her makeup smudged, her clothes a mess. Her cheek and lip, having just healed from the damage of Tyler, were now both cut and bleeding a little, the scratch on her cheek starting on the middle right side of her jaw and curved to the middle of her neck. She was fuming, the only thing that was missing was steam coming out of her nose and ears, all she could see was red. Tyreese set her down, and before she could run back, Rick wrapped his arms around her from behind to restrain her.
"LET THE FUCK GO OF ME! I'M NOT FINISHED! I'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN! WHEN I'M DONE WITH HER, I'M GONNA TEAR YOU LIMB FOR LIMB, BILL! IT'LL BE A REAL SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE IN HERE, DEXTER WILL LOOK LIKE A FUCKING DISNEY MOVIE WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH THE TWO OF YOU! PREPARE TO BE TURNED INTO ZOMBIE CHOW, STUPID SLUT AND ARROGANT PRICK!" Delilah snarled, foaming at the mouth and glaring them down as she relentlessly tried to writhe her way out of Rick's arms.
"Delilah, stop it! You need to chill out or you're gonna give yourself a heart attack!" Rick tried to calm her down but knew it was an exercise in futility, she wouldn't even listen to The Dalia Lama right now.
Delilah stopped struggling and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, let me go. I swear on Carl and Judith that I won't charge at them again, I just want to talk." She didn't really want to talk, but she wanted to be out of his hold, she was starting to feel like some erratic psychopath, and that's not who she was.
"I said I was sorry. What more do you want, a fucking float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? Grow up."
Rick and Delilah looked up at each other. He figured that if she swore on his kids, then she would keep to her word. Billy and Christine, they needed to be admonished. Rick set her down, watching as she trudged a few steps away from him, staring them down, slowing her breathing and heavily swallowing with the exception of her still wildly thumping heart.
"YOU'RE SORRY, YOU'RE SORRY?! YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE SORRY, EITHER ONE OF YOU! NOT NOW, NOT EVER, NOT AFTER WHAT HAPPENED! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT PUSHED ME INTO THAT MOSH PIT, CHRISTINE, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO STOP HER, BILL. YOU BOTH LEFT ME FOR DEAD TO RUN OFF TOGETHER! EVEN BEFORE THE WORLD WENT UNDER, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS GOING ON BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU!" Her voice echoed and rang throughout the factory, the kids could probably hear her in Leisure Zone, but she didn't care. After a year and a half of build up, she was unintentionally provided the opportunity to let it all out.
Carol turned her gaze to Billy and Christine, concerned and confused. "Will? Tina? What's going on? How do you know her and what is she talking about?"
It was that little question which made Delilah look over at Carol before glancing back at Billy and Christine, who now had guilt-ridden looks on their faces, and she realized that Carol had no idea who the hell she was really with. Christine opened her mouth to speak, but Delilah cut her off with a sly grin.
"Don't even try, there's no way you're getting out of this. You two are so fucked now." Delilah turned to Carol. "Carol, these manipulative jerks have been lying to you the whole time you've been with them. Will and Tina?" She peeked over her shoulder at Billy and Christine again. "Shows how fucking unoriginal you two are." Delilah then turned back to Carol. "Their real names are Christine Amanda Daltrey, my sister, and Billy Levi Steverson, my fiancé. We went to his family ranch in Houston when the outbreak happened, but the majority of his family and some friends were turned into these damn freaks. They wanted to leave but I thought we should stay. Little did I know that they were fooling around behind my back. So they came up with the idea to leave a dead deer in front of the house, walkers swarmed it, and the two of them snuck out the window while I was getting my gun. When I tried to escape, Christine held me back, said I needed to die and pushed me away from the window where I fell off the second story balcony!" She watched Carol's mouth slightly open as she looked over at them, her shock dissipating into wrath.
"You lied to me! You lied to Scott and Avery and Travis and Clementine, also! How could you?! Why would you do that to her?! I knew something wasn't all there with you, Tina, but I trusted you, Will! Tina, Christine, Will, Billy, whatever the hell your names really are! Everything you ever told me and every action you ever did was all a lie!" Carol was completely gobsmacked that they had played not just her, but the others in the group that they had known long before she arrived.
"How the hell did you even survive?" Billy asked as he faced Delilah, completely ignoring Carol as well as the crushing and devastating blow her words bestowed upon him. He hadn't meant to ignore her, but there were more pressing matters at hand. His question was met with a further irritated glower from Delilah.
"You don't deserve to know! All you need to know is that I got out before the damn house collapsed!"
"What?! The house collapsed?!" Even though he himself had predicted that the house would collapse, Billy was surprised to hear that it actually happened. Steverson Ranch, his home away from home as a child, was now in shambles.
"Yes, after the twenty minute hail storm that occurred as soon as I got out of there! You two were far gone by then! Oh, and thanks for dropping the keys to the semi-truck, Christine! I sure got excellent use out of the stockpile!" Delilah evilly laughed. "All you'll ever be is a dumb whore."
"And you'll never be more than a manipulative psychotic brat."
"As if! You're the manipulative one, not me."
Billy took a deep breath, he wanted to attempt to calm Delilah down and talk this out. "Chickpea-"
Christine kicked him in the shin. "Quit fucking calling her that! You're with ME, NOT HER!"
"YOU MADE SURE OF THAT, BITCH! EVEN IF IT MEANT ME LOSING MY LIFE! FUCK THE SACRED BONDS OF SISTERHOOD WHEN THERE'S A HOT COCK AROUND, RIGHT?!"
"AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT, YOU LITTLE PRUDE!"
"Knock it the hell off and let me talk to her!" Billy shouted in Christine's face, making her shut up, before he turned back to Delilah and all the other faces watching them. This wasn't the first time he had either witnessed or been involved in an infamous Daltrey sisters fight, and now that they were all together again, it probably wouldn't be the last, but he couldn't let this go any further. Before Billy could speak again, Delilah cut him off, holding her hand up briefly to silence him.
"I don't want to hear ANYTHING you have to say, because there is not a single thing you could say or do to make what you did justifiable. In my heart, I didn't want to believe you two were together, I thought I was being paranoid. "No! They won't do that to you! Your sister would never do such a thing, and your soon to be husband wouldn't go behind your back!" Except you did and abandoned me in the process! I shouldn't have expected any less from you, Christine. With your jealousy issues, you were bound to pull some underhanded trick, but you're a different story, Bill. You couldn't even be an honest human being and tell me to my face. That's what a real man would do, and you are not a man, you're a piece of shit eunuch." She always called him "Bill" when she was angry or trying to make a serious point, compared to the cute or seductive way she used to coo "Billy", depending on the situation. With that being said, he wasn't about to give up.
"Delilah, what you're feeling and how you're reacting, it's one hundred percent warranted, and we deserve it, but you need to hear my side of this. Please, I'm begging you!"
"What do you think you could possibly have to say, Bill? I don't think you could give me an explanation on why you left. One minute everything was fine and the next I'm being left behind in the house against my will with zombies swarming in!"
"No, Delilah, everything was not fine between us! I tried to tell you so many times on numerous occasions how I felt, I really did, but I couldn't get through to you! You were too busy wrapped up in your own world, bleeding me dry planning your dream wedding when you weren't crying your eyes out over the sky falling! You were losing your mind every other minute! I loved you, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, for us to have a family together, but I couldn't take it anymore!" Billy had been dealing with Delilah for years and knew that being nice wasn't getting through to her, despite what she claimed worked, so he had to be stern.
She scoffed. "That is as far from the truth as the story could get! So you tried to kill me because I wanted the happiest day of our lives to be perfect? And crying over the sky falling? It's called depression, jackass! I had it, and I needed love and support, not derision and exile!"
"You turned into a bridezilla! Thank Christ for this apocalypse or I'd have to declare bankruptcy. You could have pulled yourself out of your depression, you're a strong girl, but you crawled in deeper and deeper because you didn't know how to get over things, you never allowed yourself to just let it go! I loved you so much, more than you could ever know. This wasn't the right move, I know that, and I've regretted ever since. I wish I could take it back, tried harder to work it out between us, but I can't. My patience was worn with everything and I couldn't keep trying to deal with it, I couldn't even think straight!"
"Bullshit, Bill! Mamie and Papie were paying for everything. I did try to pull myself out of it, but getting over depression isn't something that can be done by snapping your fingers. You think the two of you running off together helped me overcome my fucking depression?! I just don't understand how you could go from Nancy Kerrigan to Tonya Harding! You told me that you wouldn't even touch Christine with somebody else's dick! If you really loved me more than I could ever know, you wouldn't have left. She doesn't love you like I loved you, she will never love you like I loved you. What you had with me, that was real, pure love. What you have with her, you're nothing more than an object. She'll carry you around when you're brand new and shiny, make you feel like you're the most important thing in the world, and just when you start to feel comfortable and that things are idyllic, she'll drop you faster than you can blink without even a care in the world for your feelings. Your allure and luster faded away, that's all she knows, along with the fact that something bigger and better came along and she couldn't resist taking the upgrade. She's Narcissia, incapable of loving anybody but herself! I would have walked on fire across the universe-"
"Yeah, yeah, enough with your poetic bullshit, Shakespeare! If you knew, why didn't you do us all a favor and break up with me for good? We wouldn't be in this mess! Why didn't you just go off with Angelo, God knows he was waiting for me to slip up so he could sneak in and take you all for himself and away from me!" He knew that Delilah hit the nail on the head about Christine treating him like an object, especially after the way she had been checking out Daryl for the past couple hours, as if nothing they had been through really mattered.
The spiteful mention of her best friend's name left Delilah infuriated, especially as the image of his walker turned form and how she had to kill him flashed in her mind, forcing her to conceal hot tears. "Leave Angelo out of this, now! I should have been with him instead, he never would have left me, especially for her! Is that why you're with Christine, because nobody wanted her and everybody wanted me?" She shook her head as she chuckled. "Absolutely, it is, it has to be. No competition, right?! You win by default!"
Everybody else in the factory was sadly captivated by the bickering. Despite the furious passion of the argument, it was easy to tell that Billy and Delilah were once a beautiful couple, they looked as close to picture perfect as two people could get. Even they couldn't tell why he picked Christine over Delilah, and that was going far beyond physical appearance.
"Of course he wouldn't have left, he was obsessed with you, Delilah!"
"Shut up! You were always jealous of him. I was one hundred percent devoted and you had everything going right: Good looks, intelligence, money, popularity, athleticism, musical talent. I have no idea why you were feeling insecure, but you were. You were so jealous of every single guy that wasn't you to the point of sabotaging my career! I know all about how the Judd Apatow deal almost didn't happen, you sadistic prick!"
"What, did you think you were gonna skyrocket to superstardom by shaking your ass against Jonah Hill's dick!?"
"HA! You're one to talk, did you really think you were going to top the charts with a band called "Delilah's Ass"?! Get real! You must be thanking your lucky stars that this apocalypse happened right when my career was taking off, because nobody wins now! "
"Only a stupid slut with no brains or talent would do what you did, and that's not who you are! I had to protect you from those creeps and perverts!"
"HEY! DON'T CALL HER THAT!" Rick shouted, stepping forward and blocking Delilah, to which Billy scoffed. He didn't know who Delilah's new boyfriend was, but it wasn't his place to butt in.
"Back off, Gramps. I didn't call her that, I compared her, she's better than that. This doesn't involve you, so I would appreciate it if you just minded your own business for now, please."
He raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, yes it does. Delilah is mine, everything that she does and everything that's said about her concerns me. Take my advice, you better quit while you're ahead."
"Yeah? Well, when you catch Delilah doing something demoralizing like grinding up on a guy with Hollywood connections like she's some dime store hooker, let me know how it feels. She'll probably do to you what she did to me and fuck you stupid so she didn't have to hear about it."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Rick charged at him and Billy did the same. Delilah was horrified about what was about to happen.
"Rick, no!" She ran after him the same time Christine was running after Billy.
"Billy, don't!"
Rick and Billy's faces were inches away from each other when they were both pulled back by their respective mates. Not even that stopped them, as they kept trying to break free and brawl.
"Let go of me, Christine! I need to put him in his place, he clearly doesn't know Delilah like I do!" Billy struggled in Christine's grasp.
"No, you're the one that doesn't know her, you imbecilic punk!"
"Try me, jerkoff! I've got five years over however long you've been with her!"
"This is ridiculous! Nothing has changed! It's been over a year, you're with me now, and you're still fighting guys for her!" Billy wasn't listening to a word she said, and that's when it dawned on Christine that she really hadn't won after all was said and done. She had pitilessly taken what she wanted, but the feelings weren't returned despite what Billy said, and most likely never would be. If she wasn't so infuriated, she'd want to cry.
"It's because she's worth it! You two deserve each other, you're both scum!" Rick snarled as Delilah further pulled him away.
"Rick, please!" She stopped walking and tried to focus his attention on her. "Hey, look at me, LOOK AT ME!" Delilah grabbed his face and forced him to look into her eyes, he still had a burning look of ferocity. "Baby, I know you want to protect me, and you know I appreciate it. Except this isn't your battle to fight, I need to take care of this on my own. I love you, but this doesn't involve you yet. I'm sorry I dragged everybody into this, you especially, because it's unfair and the last thing you deserve." Delilah's gloomy gaze softened his expression and he solemnly nodded as he held onto her hand, knowing she was right.
"Why didn't you leave me for good, Delilah?" Billy asked in a tranquil tone.
Delilah glanced over at him, dropping her hands from Rick's face and stepping forward once again, taking a deep breath before calmly answering as she appeared. "I never really had any proof, I couldn't do anything based on assumption and risk losing the so called "love of my life"." She said the last statement in air quotes before putting her hands over her heart, both her and Billy had somber looks on their faces. "Plus, I had no idea if this occurred during one of our many breakups or when we were together. If it was the former, then you would have been fair game and I couldn't hold it against you. That would have been unreasonable and make me a hypocrite, because we both know I did see other people at one point or another when we were broken up. I thought if something really was going on while we were together, that you would come to your senses and realize you had the better sister the whole time and that nobody would be none the wiser, but you didn't." Delilah threw her hands down and the fierce look returned, ending the brief moment of clarity for the former couple. "I'm surprised you two have lasted this long. Then again, she got what she wanted: Me out of the picture and you in her clutches." She looked over at Christine. "That was the only way you knew how to get things to go in your favor, Chrissy. Happiness through manipulation. Try that with the wrong person in the world we live in now, you'll be a dead woman walking."
Ever since they were little, Delilah always called her "Chrissy" when she was trying to annoy her or be cute, partially due to Chrissy Snow from Three's Company. Christine just glared her down, incredibly annoyed, as well as being in a lot of pain. Her whole face was swollen with black and blue marks forming, her eye was almost closed shut, she had to use the sleeve of her sweater to stop the bleeding in her mouth and on her nose.
"Don't blame me for this, blame Billy! It was his idea to leave you there!" She pointed at him, which then made him look at her fiercely.
"Hey, it was not! You were in on it the whole time, and you're the one that pushed her. I never said to go that far, the plan was to just leave her there. I tried to change your mind, but you wouldn't budge. Hell, I wanted to go before she woke up, and I tried to leave you with her! You were both driving me insane! You with your cunning anger and her with her naive aloofness." If Delilah wasn't insulted and in shock, she would have laughed over that revealing tidbit.
Christine gasped, this was the first time hearing this, and turned to face him. "That is such a lie and you know it! Did I force you to kill a deer and put it's dead body on the front step? No! I had to push her, I didn't think she'd follow us, let alone fall over, I didn't even see her fall! You wouldn't let me go back for her or the keys for the truck!"
"We couldn't go back or we'd be dead! I couldn't let you go back and risk-"
Delilah was getting fed up and had to put a stop to their inane bickering. She felt herself immediately revert back to an old habit, she grabbed two fistfuls of hair and yanked up, not even bothering to notice that Rick and the others were watching her with questionable looks. "SHUT UP! SHUT THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL UP, NOW! YOU'RE BOTH GUILTY, DON'T TRY TO PIN IT ON THE OTHER ONE!"
Rick saw the corner's of Christine's mouth turn into a Cheshire Cat grin, she was obviously getting some sort of sick thrill off of her sister's rage. "That was always your problem, De-li-lah. Running away from the truth, because God forbid anything realistic would pull you out of Fantasyland." She would always annunciate her name to piss her off, but her sister seemed unfazed.
Delilah started laughing, what seemed manic at first was now menacing. "Fantasyland, huh? That's what you think my life was, FANTASYLAND?!
"Of course it was! You got everything you ever wanted without having to work for a single thing a day in your life while the rest of us had to break our asses just to get a fifth of what you had!"
"Oh yeah, Chrissy, it was a real fantasy land, alright. Was it Fantasyland when I had to see Dad break MY mother's ribs, hmm?! What about all the other times he hit her, or even the two of us?! He was a fiend that you made out to be a hero, even then you were stupid and in deep denial!"
"She's my mother, too."
"On paper only, bitch! She gave birth to me, not you!" Delilah was pointing at herself and back to Christine when she spoke before folding her arms across her chest. After all this time, she was still a monster and Delilah had to set her straight, even if it meant going to places unknown and unveiling depths that had been hidden up to this point. "How about when Dad tried to stab Mom and she shot him in the head?!"
Christine's jaw dropped to the floor, appalled not only at her sister's statement, but that she would go to such great lengths of fabrication. "You delusional little twat! Do you dream this shit up in your sleep?! Dad was killed by a burglar."
"No, Mom just told us that to make it easier. I saw it happen and I have the police report to prove it. You left all the family files in the truck."
Christine's eyes widened and she felt herself lightly trembling. Could this be true? This shocking revelation left her temporarily paralyzed, but Delilah kept going.
"How do you think I felt, watching my mom kill my dad because he was an abusive asshole that tried to kill her first?! Still think it was Fantasyland? Was it Fantasyland when the kids at school were bullying me so badly that I wanted to kill myself? Was it Fantasyland when I was four years old and Dad's friend Frank molested me and again at twelve?! How about when Rob, your own boyfriend, tried to attack me, hmm? WAS THAT FUCKING FANTASYLAND, YOU SELFABSORBED, INCONSIDERATE CUNT?!"
Javier, Madison, and Rick were the only ones at Jellbany that knew about these secrets. Rick and Madison looked over at each other, knowing that Delilah had inadvertently exposed herself, and shook their heads sadly. If she had mentioned anything to anybody else, the specific details were minute. A couple of gasps could be heard around the room. Tara, Ivan, Matt, and Bob were speechless. Beth looked like she was going to cry while Glenn and Maggie looked disheartened. Carol and Sasha had tears in their eyes, even Michonne and Tyreese seemed visibly upset by the news, and all Daryl did was hang his head down low.
"YOU'RE LYING ABOUT EVERYTHING!" Christine was in shock that the only mother she knew lied about something so serious. Rachelle was a wonderful mother, even though Christine took her for granted, but this couldn't be true.
Delilah shook her head. "It's not a lie, none of this is a lie. HE knows." She looked over at her first love. "If you want any credibility at all, you will tell her-"
"Delilah…" He tried to cut her off, only for Delilah to raise her voice.
"YOU WILL TELL HER that I'm telling the truth."
Billy heavily sighed as he looked at her. He knew what had to be done to at least redeem himself a little and turned to Christine. "It's true, Christine. Every single word."
Christine felt like she was going to lose it. She didn't have the best dad, but she loved him. "Daddy…" For a brief moment, she allowed a few tears to fall, but retaliation and fury forced her to quickly snap out of it, the Cheshire Cat grin back in place. "Whatever. How well do these people really know you, Delilah? Do they know you got your nose done?"
Delilah once again scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It was deviated and fractured, I needed to! What are you, five years old? That's the best you could come up with? Who gives a crap?! You got your tits done! Daryl, if I see you look over there, I will rip your fucking head off your neck!" Delilah glared over at him, he put his hands up in surrender, it made her feel a little shamefaced that she snapped at him, but she was far from acting rational by now.
"I ain't checking her out. No fake titties for me."
Christine wickedly chuckled as Delilah turned back to face her. "See? It's been over a year and you still can't stand not being the center of attention. And that is not the best I can come up with. How about that Mom had to spend almost all of Dad's inheritance fixing you up? Believe me, there was a lot to be fixed. Besides the nose job, there were laser treatments for not only the stretch marks on your boobs, thighs, and stomach from your fat years, but also on your face, arms, and back from your compulsive skin picking. Having to get your teeth fixed from the damage of bulimia and all the lessons to turn you into the fucking perfect Barbie doll! I couldn't stand you, you little bitch, because there was nothing left over for me! I did what I had to do to get you the hell out of my life once and for all! Being your sister was unbearable!"
Rick and the others looked at Delilah, absolutely flabbergasted. Not even he and Madison knew about what Christine had just said, was any of it true? Delilah shrugged it off and kept talking to her sister.
"That's the thing though, it was you who pulled out all the obnoxious stops to get attention. Don't even try to pull that stunt on me, you devious tramp! I worked my ass off, I was a star, with raw talent, and everybody knew I'd become something, it was you that everybody thought would end up in the gutter! Every single opportunity or lesson afforded to me was offered to you, and you turned it down and just rebelled! You never knew how to be a good sister, Christine, because you only cared about yourself. It has been eighteen months since we last saw each other. I've changed, but you obviously haven't. Maggie and Beth over here are real sisters." She pointed at both of them. "They have gone through hell and back, losing their family and farm, watching a one eyed psychopath behead their father, but they look out for one another and nothing will ever get in the way of that. When Beth was lost, Maggie was sick to her stomach and thought she was the worst sister ever that we couldn't find her sooner, she didn't try to leave her in a house filled with the walking dead to take her boyfriend."
Delilah then pointed at Glenn. "Maggie is the love of Glenn's life, and he cares about her more than he cares about himself, he would die for Maggie before he ever abandoned her for somebody else."
She pointed at Rick next. "When Rick's son Carl found out about our relationship prematurely thanks to some jealous sociopath, I went back to the walker infested prison, risking my life to get him and his sister a family portrait so they had something of their deceased mother. You saw what it was like there, but I did it out of love, because when you love somebody, you'll do anything for them."
Lastly, she pointed at Daryl. "Daryl's brother died and he had to kill him when he turned into a nombie." Delilah turned back to Christine and Billy, her hands clenched in fists at her sides as her furiously intent look deepened. "WALKER OR HUMAN, I WILL NOT! HESITATE! TO KILL YOU BOTH EITHER!"
That last statement had Rick concerned, unsure whether it was said in the heat of the moment or if she genuinely meant it. If this were a movie, she certainly would have won an Academy Award hands down, she was giving the performance of a lifetime. Unfortunately, this was all too real.
"Can it, Delilah! Is this any way you want to act? Like a crazy bitch with a thirst for blood?! What the hell is wrong with you, do you think this is the right example to set for your niece and nephew?" Billy snapped, which caused the room to go completely silent. Any remorse that was felt earlier was now temporarily blocked by both stupidity and frustration. When he finally become conscious of what he had just revealed to her, Billy's glare fell away into a guilty look. "Oh, shit…"
Christine got annoyed and slugged his arm. "Why did you say anything, you idiot?!" She hissed through clenched teeth.
Delilah's eyes went wide upon hearing the words.
"What?"
Rick watched as all the color drained from her face and her eyes started tearing up. "N-niece? N-nephew?" This had to be some kind of a sick joke, Christine made it very clear that she never wanted kids or to get married, that she didn't wear commitments as well as she wore Hydrolic Jeans. She claimed to have loved them, but every time she was around a child, she would act incredibly contrived.
Christine nodded. "Now that the cat's out of the bag… Yes, they turned a year old last month."
"You have children? They're one years old?" Delilah could feel and hear her heart booming loudly, like it would fall out of her chest at any second, and was pretty sure everybody else noticed as well.
It's only been eighteen months since we've been separated. September ended a couple weeks ago.
The last thing she wanted to do was show weakness by breaking down and crying. She was doing everything she could to hold it together, gritting her teeth and grinding her fingernails further into her fist clenched hands. Regardless, the others were able to see the pain, and their own hearts were breaking for her.
Billy still had the sad, mortified look on his face as his eyes began to tear. "Delilah, we- I-"
Christine was a tad oblivious to her reaction. "Yeah, Lilah. Fraternal twins, Santino and Serena."
"My baby names." She whispered under her breath.
Back in Texas, when I joked that she was chubby… she was pregnant.
The room was starting to spin and everything was beginning to feel heavy. Delilah had been hit with the coldest dose of reality, not only that they had children, but it was now confirmed that they had been together all along. After that, she couldn't hear anything at all but the sound of mad laughter followed by a trilly yet ominous circus theme. Delilah looked around the room to see every single person there laughing at her, but they weren't the same, they all had horrifying clown masks on. They were pointing and laughing, a few of them saying "Sucker!" or "You're nothing but a joke!" and they kept moving up and down like they were being vertically stretched out.
Maggie walked towards Delilah, with Glenn, Michonne, Madison, and Rick following suit.
"Delilah?" Maggie's voice was echoing, but Delilah figured it was a hallucination, because all she could see and hear were laughing clowns. She felt as if she had a twenty pound medicine ball on her back and was being spun around in circles against her will, she was seeing triple of everybody and her whole body felt clammy.
This is all a figment of my imagination, the clowns aren't here. Maybe if I just close my eyes for a second. Billy and Christine have babies…
Delilah closed her eyes, but the laughter and jeers only became louder in her head.
"Delilah!" Rick ran over and caught Delilah as she collapsed, just barely missing the ground. In a matter of seconds, everybody was surrounding them. Billy tried to go over, but Christine latched a firm grip on his arm.
"Don't even think about it, she's doing this for attention."
He looked at her, disgusted, but still didn't say anything or move forward, because she was most likely correct.
She can't be acting… Her body language, the look on her face, it was all so real.
"Is she ok?" Sasha asked.
Rick checked her pulse, seeing that she had broken out into a cold sweat. "She'll be fine, she fainted is all." He hoisted her up in his arms and carried her off. Billy approached them.
"Tiger Lily, wake up. I'm sorry. We can talk about this, don't pull the fainting stunt."
Rick glared at him angrily. Even though Billy was a few inches taller, he still intimidated the young man with his stare. "Stay the hell away from her. BOTH OF YOU." He hissed, looking over at Christine with the same expression before he brushed past the couple and out of there to Delilah's room. How could her sister and ex-fiancé act so cold and blasé with her as if nothing had ever happened? Billy then tried to follow.
"Don't fall for it, man. She might be faking! We know her better than you do! This is nothing more than a trick! The best you can do is wait until she wants to stop putting on a front!"
Madison roughly yanked him back and turned him around. "I believe he said to stay the hell away from her, but now I'm telling you to stay the fuck away from her. Rick's a gentleman, and while I'm a lady, that doesn't mean I'm not afraid to flash my sharp tongued whip lashing Mississippi roots, so listen up and back off." She narrowed her eyes in assertive wrath, which Billy shrugged off.
"Excuse me, but this is a family matter, it would be in your best interest to kindly stay out of it, please." Billy tried to be as polite as possible despite his frustration, but it didn't work as he watched as Madison's jaw drop. Michonne stepped forward as the others once again encircled them.
"I'd listen to her if I were you, because you don't know what-."
Madison nodded at her. "Don't worry, Foxy Brown, I've got this." Michonne returned the nod, hiding a smirk as Madison stepped in front of her, glaring Billy down with the mother of all glares. "Family matter?! Stay out of it?! We are her family, we didn't leave her like you both did! I'll show you a family matter, you cowpie dickwad! HI-YAH!" She hauled back and punched him in the gut, knocking him off his feet, in mid air, before he landed flat on his ass and was painfully groaning.
Bob whistled. "Wow, Mads. You sure know how to pack a punch."
Madison shook out her hand to the side and smiled. "Thanks, Bob. That's called a "power gut punch" where I come from. This is child's play, I've only just started with this one." She kicked Billy in his tail bone, laughing as he cried out from the soreness, but her smile faded as she looked around, baffled. "What the- where the hell did that damn tramp Christine go?!"
WOO-HOO! GO MADISON! EXCEPT OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY FREAKING GOD! DID ANYBODY SEE THAT TWIST OR ANY OF THE OTHERS COMING? DIDN'T THE END JUST BREAK YOUR HEART? POOR DELILAH :/
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER AND WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NOW? WHERE DID CHRISTINE GO? ALSO, HOW DO YOU SEE BILLY AND CHRISTINE'S FATE ENDING UP?
ALL THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE WILL BE REVEALED IN CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN, COMING SOON!
BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE STORY FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND SPREAD THE WORD! NO FLAMES!
- 35
- 36
- 37
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Forever Rising Phoenix