❪ 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 ❫

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
the kidnapped and the saved.  ╱  season three, episode three.

TOBY NEVER LIKED the feeling of being confined. Confined came hand in hand with the loss of control, and he hated not being in control, especially in a time like this. The feeling of having no control makes his skin itch and it becomes hard to breathe. Everything changes, and it's scary when you're right in the middle of it all. He hated the feeling of everything crashing down in a matter of seconds, and you could say today that happened, one mistake on their part, and they were dragged away to some compound in an unfamiliar place. Toby wished he could go back and say something, anything, to get them not go to the crash. But he can't change it now, it's too late.

Toby counted each breath he took, in and out, in and out, in and out. He felt on the verge of a panic, this was the first time he had gotten taken. The loss of sight got him the most, getting a black sack shoved over your head wasn't the best in his opinion, and it made his fear worse. Everything was muffled and dark, he felt lost in the dark with no light. His head buzzed with pain and hysteria, getting clocked on the forehead didn't feel too pleasant. Blood that trailed from his head wound stuck to the fabric of the black cloth entrapping his head. Anger flooded his veins at the thought that these assholes thought they could just take people when they pleased.

He thought the world would be dark and horrendous, but he didn't know douches like this would think it would be a good idea to kidnap people who clearly didn't want to be taken. Toby was furious and certainly wasn't going to back down. Ideas of ways they could get away swirled through his head, but he couldn't think of much since his sight and hearing were fuzzy.

He knew they were in a car, he specifically remembered his body sinking into the cushion of the seat when he first woke up. He was squeezed tight next to someone, and the person was too big to be his brother. Fuck, Thomas, he had no idea where he was. The panic flooded his body like a tidal wave, he felt his heart thud harshly in his chest, not knowing where the boy was. He didn't know where anyone was, Michonne, Andrea, everyone was out of his sight. He tried to keep calm but the sudden fear of being alone was too much for him to bear.

His breath quickened, with each gasp of air he took, the fabric got sucked into his mouth. The ropes around his wrist grew tighter and even more constricting. Toby fought against the ties, grunting as nothing helped. The world around him began to get further and further away, it began to get harder and harder to breathe. With each breath that was beginning to be shallow, his body spasmed roughly. He heard voices around him, none to which he recognized, and it only made him freak out even more.

"I think the the older Kid's having a panic attack, Sir,"

Toby struggled more with each tug of the rope, more pants and gasps of air slipped through his lips. He felt like he was gonna die, he felt helpless, invisible tears trailed down his cheeks, only making him feel weaker.

"Shove the fabric up above his nose so he can at least breathe clearly, I told you to do that before he woke up, didn't you hear me?"

"Uh, no, sorry Sir," Unfamiliar hands attempted to lift the cloth, but each time the person came near, Toby pulled further away, not wanting a stranger to touch him. "The kid's not letting me near him,"

"Kid just let him pull it up,"

The voice seemed tired, borderline annoyed, and even in Toby's panicked haze, he was still able to snap back, "Screw...you,"

The words were rushed and breathy, his breathing further suffering because of the comment. The man scoffed loudly, appalled by the comment from the teenager, "Fine, Kid, have it your way,"

And with that, the conversation was over and Toby was left alone in his panic. Time began to slow down, and his movements began ascending into slow motion, and before Toby could even thinking of his next move, the car hurled to a stop. His forehead instantly smashed against the seat in front of him and a yelp escaped his lips at the impact.

The things proceeding happened quite rushed, Toby was dragged out of the car and onto his feet. He could see nothing but he knew the leader's henchmen were pulling him away. He attempted many times to skid his feet on the pavement to slow them down, he could hear Michonne and Tommy struggling behind him.

"Toby,"

The boy in question jumped at the helpless plea of his brother, tugs and kicks were slowly coming to play as Toby tried to get away. It seemed useless as the men had a harsh grip on him and refused to let him go.

"Governor where do you want him?"

There was a pause in the air, leaving nothing but Toby's grunts of frustration to fill it. The men seemed to ignore the teen's angered huffs and continued their hushed words, "Take him to interrogation room one, I'm gonna get the other's settled into one of the patient rooms and I'll meet you there in ten,"

"On it,"

Retreating footsteps fled the scene, and Toby was soon dragged to an unknown room. The boy stumbled constantly not knowing where the right place to step was. Confusion raked his brain, not understanding why he was getting separated from the others. And he especially didn't understand why he was getting interrogated. But all he knew was that this little interrogation wasn't going to be pleasant for anyone, especially the jerk-offs that decided it was a good idea to kidnap him.

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AN UNDECIDED amount of time passed before the black cloth bag was ripped off of Toby's head. Sweat poured down his face as cool night air washed over his skin. His head throbbed brutally, causing an almost invisible wince to spread across his face. He felt instant eyes on him, but Toby's eyes drifted around to his surroundings. While his arms were tied to his chair, he was sitting directly in front of a mahogany table. Toby squirmed against his confinements, and with no luck of getting free, he let out a loud huff. With a glare that would kill crossing his face, Toby made direct eye contact with the man that caused all of this. Stupid, shitty, asshole leader.

"Hey kid, how you doing?"

"Where's my group?"

A seemingly polite smile split crossed the man's lips, but Toby saw right through it. The man played a kind, savior type, but the teen could spot a fake instantly. The man seemed intrigued by how demanding the boy was, soon leaning his right hand to rest on the table in front of him. "They're safe, I have a doctor attending to the blonde's needs, while the other woman and the little boy, who I'm assuming your brother, is with her,"

"And why am I here?" Toby's voice was rough and brash, leading the men behind the leader to become tense.

"We'll get to that, how about some introductions, yeah?" The man questioned.

The boy in front of him twitched in annoyance, hating this little game he was playing, "How about you untie me instead, Asshole."

The name seemingly went right over the man's head and his attitude never falters, which made Toby instantly uncomfortable. "Sure thing, it's just a simple precaution, you get it, right?"

The ropes instantly were released from Toby's wrists by some of his soldiers. Blood rushed to circulate through the skin. The boy rubbed them, hoping to aid the redness that flushed his pale skin. While he felt relieved that the ropes no longer confined him, he didn't let it show, and just continued to send the man in front of him a look of skepticism, "Yeah, precaution, you always gotta restrain your kidnapped victims,"

"We didn't kidnap you, son,"

Toby scoffed, rolling his eyes at the words, "Oh right, my bad, what you did was just involuntarily taking," 

"We saved you,"

Anger crawled on his skin, the words only making his frustration worse, "Oh really? Saving someone means taking them without their permission? Wow, I guess I've been wrong this whole time,"

The leader's face scrunched up at the condescending tone and words, "One of yours would've died if we didn't help,"

"We were doing fine, we didn't need your help," Toby hissed, slowly feeling that this conversation was going to make him blow.

"Oh really? Then did you know that your brother's severely malnourished, and that he was on the verge of going into a shock?"

At that moment Toby snapped, his face became hard as his tone turned to ice, "Please Douchebag, we're all mal-fucking-nourished, it's the goddamn apocalypse. I was doing my best and I certainly could've done it with or without your help,"

The man let out a breathy laugh, leaning back in his chair nonchalantly, "I don't doubt it son, but it just looked like you need help, that's all,"

"If you're so keen on helping us, why am I here and not with my group getting treated from when one of your asshole soldiers clocked me in the face?"

"That's fair, but you have been causing quite a struggle since we found you, we just needed to calm you down and ask you a few questions before you could go back to your people,"

"Fine dickhead, ask away," Toby hissed, soon sinking into the stiff wooden chair behind him.

"Let's start off with some introductions, I'm what my people call the Governor, you're Toby right?"

The boy twitched uncomfortably hearing his name coming from that man's lips, but he played it off as annoyance, "Why the hell do they call you the Governor?"

The Governor just sent him a seemingly kind smile, "It's a name that just stuck I guess,"

"It's a douchey name,"

The other men in the room rolled their eyes at the boy's words, but the man in front of him just laughed, "It's a bit pretentious, I'll admit, but it's just what people call me,"

Toby shifted, rapping his fingers on the table, already irritated with the Governor's attempts at trying to get him to open up, "Can we cut the bullshit, just ask me the damn questions so I can leave,"

"Alright," The man straightened out, soon leaning on the table in an authoritative manner, "How did you find the Helicopter?"

"This has to be a fucking joke," Toby scoffed, sitting back with his arm crossed in disbelief that this was actually the fucking question they wanted to ask him. Everyone one around didn't falter, actually wanting an answer, so Toby sent him an exasperated glance, "I don't know dude, there was a loud crash and we were like 'huh, wonder what that is?' and then we found the stupid helicopter crash and we were doing just fine until you jerk-off's "saved" us,"

The Governor visibly relaxed and sent the boy a charismatic gaze, "Well, thank you for your cooperation,"

"Whatever, can I go now?" Toby questioned impatiently, his mind already on how his brother was doing.

The Governor clapped his hands lightly as he stood up, "I have to go check on the survivor of the crash, but Merle will take you to your group,"

A caring and kind smile never leaving his face as he stared at Toby. His bullshit "charismatic" persona already annoying the living hell out of Toby, and he had just met him. He couldn't wait to get away from the man, the boy's skin crawled just being in his presence. Just from his look, he knew something was seriously wrong with this man.

Toby sent his escort a quick uninterested glance and Merle returned it with a condescending smile, the boy let out a disappointed sigh, "Oh joy,"

"I'm not too happy about it either kid, so let's get a move on,"

Before Toby could even reply, the man had a rough grip on his arm, soon dragging him out of the dingy room and through the small building. The Governor sent the boy a kind wave, only making the teen practically itch to get away from him completely.

Boy, how he wanted to already leave this place. 

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TOBY HAD NEVER felt more relief in his life as he finally made eye contact with the little boy that's been on his mind since they got separated. He was half-hazardly released from Merle's grip, which made him stumble into the room lightly. He instantly caught himself, sending Merle an aggressive glare for the rough mistreatment, but the man just sent him a cocky glance. The action was instantaneously wiped from his mind as Thomas crashed into his arms. Toby bent down lightly to return the hug, a light, almost invisible, twitched at his lips, knowing his brother was okay.

"Go check on your patient, Doc," Merle's order immediately made the doctor flood the scene to the other room. In the span of a second, Toby and Thomas were by Michonne's side. While Thomas was shoved behind Michonne, in an act of protection by her, Toby was by her side sending the man a distrustful glare. Merle ignored the two, his eyes never leaving Andrea, "Bet you was wondering if I was real, probably hoping I wasn't,"

The woman didn't reply, leaving him an opening to speak again, "Well, here I am, I guess this old world gets a little smaller toward the end, huh? Ain't so many of us left to share the air, right?" Merle scoffed in amusement at the mute woman. He quickly grabbed a chair and set it across from the group of four, soon taking a seat, "You know, when they found me, I was near bled out, starving. Thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal, take myself a nice long nap after, wait for Daryl on the other side... You seen my brother?"

Andrea choked a bit, eyes down towards the ground, "Not for a long time,"

Merle humorously chuckled, quickly send the woman an icy and bitter tone that made Toby's stomach drop, "Makes two of us,"

Andrea ignored the tone, sending him a sorrowful glance, "He went back for you, him and Rick. You were already gone,"

"Yeah well, not all of me," The man laughed in amusement, instantly taking off his arm device. Toby had the urge to throw up as his eyes met the stump of where Merle's arm used to be. "Yeah, Rick, he's that prick that cuffed me to the rooftop,"

Toby crossed his arms at the confusion of this situation, he really didn't know what to say as he heard all of this unknown history from before he met Andrea. He was a little surprised at everything he's found out about tonight.

Andrea visibly seemed a little guilty at the words from Merle, "Yeah...he tried, Daryl saw that,"

A small but genuine smile lifted at his lips at the words, "He's always been the sweet one, my baby brother,"

"He wanted to keep looking, but things happened, people died," Andrea mentioned, her words becoming soft. "A lot of them, Jim, Dale, Jacqui, Sophia... Amy,"

"Your sister?" Merle questioned, leading Andrea to nod in response. "She was a good kid, I'm sorry to hear it,"

The man seemed genuine with his words, which made Toby confused as to why he always seemed to come off as a pompous asshole.

"There were more, a lot more, we had to leave Atlanta, we wound up on a farm, Daryl stepped up, became a valued member of the group," Andrea praised, hoping that would give Merle some happiness, seeing that his brother became something.

But Merle just closed-off and a sour look found its way to his face, "Now he's dead,"

Andrea shook her head, still having hope that her old group was still alive, "I don't know that for sure, we got run off by a herd,"

"How long ago?"

Andrea sucked her lips into her mouth in thought, "Seven, eight months?" Her eyes wavering to Michonne and Toby, looking for clarification. When Michonne nodded lightly, she turned her attention back to Merle, "I was separated from the rest of them, got left behind... I know what it feels like,"

Merle's demeanor quickly changed, a spiteful chuckle escaping his lips, "I doubt that,"

A silence flowed through the room, no one bothering to say what was on their mind. Toby swayed awkwardly next to Michonne, hoping someone would pick up the coversation or they could leave this place and never come back.

"What do you want from us?"

Merle scoffed at the comment, almost appalled by it. He instantly was up from his chair, cockily walking over to the small group, who were all curious as to what his answer would be, "Damn, there she sits, four walls around her, roof over her head, medicine in her veins, and she wants to know what I want from her,"

"Instead of being a condescending prick, can you actually just answer her question?" Toby's voice held nothing but annoyance towards the man, sure, he felt bad for him, but there's no reason to be an asshole to someone who literally got taken against their will.

The words seemed to give Merle an edge to his voice, as he ultimately ignored the fiery teen, "I plucked you, your mute, mouthy and his brother out of the dirt, Blondie, saved your asses, how about a thank you?"

Toby instantly scoffed at the words, soon stepping up in a warning manner. Merle seemed lightly taken aback by the action, but Toby continued on, "How about a fuck you? Now that I'm thinking about it, you had a gun on us, and that doesn't really scream "saving our asses" to me,"

"Well, Kid, who ain't had a gun on 'em in the past year, huh? Show of hands, y'all, anybody? Hmm?" Merle snapped, his eyes shooting fire into Toby's, but the boy didn't reply knowing it would only cause more trouble, "Shumpert, crowley? Y'all had a gun on y'all?"

Silence filled the room, no one bothered to say anything as they already knew the answer, but instead of stopping Merle kept going, "Hell, I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger come walking up with his mitts in his pockets. That'd be the son of a bitch you'd really want to be scared of-"

"Thank you..."

Toby scoffed sending an exasperated look towards Andrea, hating that she gave in so quickly. If it was Toby, he could've argued till the sun came up. If he passionately hated someone he could probably last forever, and honestly, Merle was about to be on his shit list. Before Toby could snap at the man, the Governor made his way out of the adjacent patient room and into theirs.

Words were discreetly said between Merle and him, Toby even leaned closer so he could maybe pick up bits of it, but sadly nothing came out of it. He watched Merle nod in agreement before stalking off, and of course purposely close enough to Toby, so he could shove him as he walked by. The boy sent the man a killer glare as he grasped his shoulder in surprise. He hated every single one of these people. God, how he wanted to leave this place.

"How you feeling?"

Before Andrea could reply, Michonne stepped in front of her, to direct his attention to her, "We want our weapons,"

"Sure, on your way out the front gates,"

"Show us the way." Andrea clipped instantaneously, the man sent her a strange look, but she just scoffed lightly, "You've kept us locked up in this room,"

The man in question sent her a look of confusion, "You see any bars on the windows? You're being cared for,"

"Under guard," Andrea hissed in annoyance.

"To protect our people, we don't know you,"

Toby's boisterous scoff caught the attention of everyone, and soon all eyes were turned to the frustrated boy, "Yeah well, we know enough about you to want out of this place,"

Andrea nodded in agreement and picked up where he left off, "We watched you drive a knife into the skulls of two dead men, what the hell was that all about?"

"They turned,"

Confusion washed over Toby's features at the words, "They weren't bitten,"

"Doesn't matter," The Governor let out a soft sigh, stepping closer to the three, "However we die, we all turn. I put them out of their misery," When the three fell silent due to shock, the man decided to continue, "It's not easy news to swallow at first, but there it is. You're not prisoners here, you're guests. If you want to leave, as I said, you're free to do so, but we don't open the gates past dusk, draws too much attention,"

His next words were focused on Andrea, "And you especially need a solid night's sleep, you wouldn't last another day out there in your condition,"

Before any of them could speak up, he went into another rant, which irked Toby, knowing this man wouldn't let him get a single word edge wise. "Have you brought over to my place in the morning, return your weapons. Extra ammo, food for the road, some meds, keys to a vehicle if you want one? Send you on your way, no hard feelings,"

Toby's stomach churned in an uncomfortable way as the man left the room, everything he listed seemed to perfect, too good to be true even. Toby had a feeling this place was going to embody that feeling. Michonne seemed to have the same idea, as they both made brief, skeptical, eye contact. With that look, they both instantly knew that they needed to leave this place as soon as they can.

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✿❣︎ 𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀  ❣︎✿

HEY IM BACK WITH AN
UPDATE CAUSE IM INSPIRED!!!

I LOVE THIS BOOK AND I LOVE MY BOY!!! CAUSE LOOK AT HIM HOW CAN I NOT BE!!!

We talked about Rick for a hot second in this chapter and I'm getting progressively excited to write Rick and Toby's dynamic, I AM LIKE SO FUCKING EXCITED YOU DONT EVEN KNOW TF!!

Also I'm so excited to get angst and rude Toby during these next few chapters. It basically a Toby hating on Woodbury compilation and it's about to own me.

Hope you enjoyed!