❪ 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 ❫

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗎𝗋 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
the problem with woodbury. ╱ season three, episode three.

EVERY DAY IN the apocalypse is like waking up on the wrong side of the bed. While it was a blessing to be able to wake up each day, knowing that you survived another night. But then the thought of what the day ahead of you holds makes you stop. That is exactly what happened to Toby as he pried his eyes open as the sun washed across his face. A dull ache began to build in his shoulder and back as they tensed from sleeping on the floor all night.

Uncertainty of his surroundings made Toby want to pack everything and everyone up so they could leave instantly. He didn't trust the walls around him, he didn't trust the people that ran this place. There was just something off about this place that made his stomach bubble with anxiety. He wanted out as soon as they were able to.

He was the first one awake, he always was. He needed to make sure everything was fine. Toby laid the blanket he was using on top of his brother, who was fast asleep next to the makeshift bed Toby occupied moments before. The small boy cuddled into the blanket he was already using, but unknowingly welcomed the blanket his brother gave him. Toby stood at the window watching the sunrise over the buildings, eyes on the armed men as they switched shifts once in a while. He was alone until Michonne began shifting on the couch, turning his head to the woman, whose head was resting in her hands. She laid a soft hand on his shoulder once she made her way over to him, "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough," The boy sighed sending her a clear look, "Michonne I don't think we can stay here much longer, on the outside it seems safe and nice, but there's something about it that makes me uncomfortable,"

The woman nodded in agreement, "I know, I have the same feeling, we'll leave as soon as we can,"

"Does Andrea know?" Toby asked, eyes wavering to the woman who was past out cold on the bed.

"She will," Michonne shrugged, "She knows I need to take care of you guys, and if that means us leaving to find another place, so be it,"

"Thank you," Toby sighed, his heart pounding from the vulnerable words falling from his lips.

Michonne furrowed her eyebrows, "For what kid?"

"Just saving us," Toby answered, his eyes flashed down to his hands, nervous to make eye contact with the woman in front of him. "I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own, so thank you for helping me get through this,"

"Toby you should know this, I would do anything for you two, you're like my kids," Michonne confessed, the words making Toby's heart clench in his chest. "And Toby don't ever underestimate yourself, I know you could've done this all by yourself, you're a survivor and I don't doubt for a second that you could've taken care of your brother by yourself,"

Toby ducked his head down, making sure Michonne couldn't see his small blush, "Thank you,"

"I'm just telling the truth Kid," Michonne placed a soft squeeze on his shoulder, "Why don't you get some sleep okay? I know you want to make sure everything's okay, but I'll take over, take the couch,"

"I'll put Tommy on the couch and I'll take the floo-"

Michonne shook her head, "Thomas can handle sleeping on the floor, but you, you need a good sleep, and the couch will do that,"

Toby's eyes wavered from Michonne to his blissed-out brother on the floor, "But-"

"No buts," Michonne interrupted, giving the boy a stern look, "Sleep on the couch, don't make me tell you twice,"

The teenage boy sighed in defeat, "Fine,"

Michonne smiled lightly in victory, watching the boy as he sent her a small glare while he plopped onto the couch. Once he got into a comfortable position, his eyes began to get heavy, and all the prying thoughts were fading away. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he began fading further and further away from it all into a nice, blissful sleep.

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THE GEORGIA SUN refused to give Toby any type of break as he trudged begrudgingly behind Michonne and Andrea as they followed a lady who was showing them around Woodbury. Eyes followed their every move, Toby could feel every single one of them with each step he took. He wanted to scream out for them to mind their business but he swallowed it down, knowing it would not look good on his part.

Thomas looked excitedly around, eyes fixated on a golden retriever that passed. Toby heart inflated lightly at the bright smile he hadn't seen in ages, pulling his distracted brother closer to his side. He wished he could see him smile more often, but as days go on, a smiling Thomas is harder to see.

"It's real," Andrea muttered in disbelief, eyes watching all of the people passing them by.

"You four were out there for a long time," The lady mentioned, a proud smile gracing her lips, "While you were, the governor was doing this,"

"How many people do you have?"

The woman politely waved to a pregnant woman who had passed them with a basket of food in her grasp, "Seventy-three, Eileen's about to pop, so her kid will make it seventy-four,"

Toby's eyes widened at the number of people but said nothing. While no one replied the woman took it as her time to add on, "It's still a work in progress, but Rome wasn't built in a day,"

Toby scoffed loudly, getting the attention of everyone in the small group, "That's a bold comparison,"

"I think we've earned it," The woman remarked, eyes never leaving Toby's as if she was trying to prove how great this place was, "Walls haven't been breached in over a month, we haven't suffered a casualty inside of the walls since early winter,"

Andrea looked around slightly scoffing, "How is that possible?"

The woman stopped them from walking, "Our governor set a strict curfew, nobody out after dark, noise and light are kept to the bare minimum, arm guards on the fence and patrolling the perimeter to keep the biters away,"

Andrea sent her a knowing look, "I saw what your patrols do on the way in last night, they had a dead one strung up like an ornament,"

A look of disgust crossed Toby's face at the words, even now he could never understand why someone would do that. That made him even more hesitant to stay here, if not that, then they gave him encouragement to leave.

The woman paused, eyes washing over all of them, "I won't make excuses, but those men put their lives at risk every day to protect this town, they've lost more than a few friends out there, everyone copes in their own way, but I'll raise it with the Governor,"

With that the woman wandered off, not bothering to look back at the four survivors who stood there in confusion. Toby met Michonne's gaze, her face said everything he was feeling at that moment.

They need to get out.

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TOBY AND TRUST almost never came hand in hand, and that was even more apparent as he watched the people around him, waiting as if they were about to snap. While getting shown around he made sure to count all the entrances and exits, just in case they were needed. He could tell Michonne had the same apprehension about Woodbury as she just observed the things around her and let Andrea take the lead in the conversation. Toby swallowed his annoyance towards the blonde woman as he watched her soak up the safety of this place. He knew that it was going to be difficult for her to leave and if they had to leave her so be it.

Toby didn't like to think like that, he cared about Andrea, but if she got in the way of Thomas' well being, she was getting left behind. It was the one thing he was selfish about, he needed his little brother to be safe, it was the only thing that mattered. He would sacrifice himself and everything around in order for his brother to survive.

This place felt wrong, from the first time he saw it, it felt like almost a dream. It was too perfect, there was something, he knew it. He could feel the dark atmosphere clouding the small town, something was up with the Governor and he just needed to find out what. He wanted to find a place for all of them to live and be safe, but there was evil lying here, and he wanted them to get out before it was too late.

While he wanted to remain vigilant and keep his distance from the Governor and his men, that wasn't in the plan as all of them got dragged into having breakfast at the Governor's apartment. Toby sat silently next to Michonne as he analyzed his surroundings, his gaze was fixated on the hutch that held his bat along with Michonne's sword.

His finger's rapped against the wooden table as he tensed feeling the Governor fill his plate with eggs. While the man moved onto his little brother's plate, Toby remained still, not bothering to touch the eggs the man gave him.

"Eight months? Hard to believe that you folks lasted so long out there," The Governor mentioned, eyes glued to one of the plates he was filling it up.

Andrea scoffed lightly, head tilting to one side, "Because we're two women and two kids?"

The Governor simply shook his head and gave her a kind smile, "Because you were alone,"

"We had each other," Andrea replied, her voice filled with a mix of proudness and fondness.

"Four against the world," The man stated in amusement, "It's long odds,"

Toby scoffed, already annoyed by this conversation as his eyes turned into slits, "We managed,"

The Governor chuckled, completely disregarding the callous tone Toby's voice held, "Oh, we're impressed,"

Milton had nodded along with the Governor, "Very,"

Toby was graced with a small silence, but it didn't last long before the Governor began speaking again, "Surviving in the wild is tough sledding, wake up every morning on the ground wondering if today is the day. Will it be quick and final, or slow and, well, without end? Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain or will I come back as one of them?"

Toby's mouth opened up at his words, shocked that the man would be so blunt in front of a little kid. The look on his little brother's face was enough to make Toby wanna punch the man across from him. The fork tightened in his hand as he remained silent, not wanting to start something that would ultimately scare his little brother more.

"Do you think they remember anything? The person they once were?" Milton questioned, his words mostly directed towards Andrea.

"I don't think about it," Andrea answered, her mouth slightly full of eggs.

"Milton believes there might be a trace of the person they were, still trapped inside," The Governor mentioned, his face filling with slight sarcasm at the man's thoughts.

"Like an echo," Milton added on, ignoring the slight sarcastic tone in the Governor's voice. "Surely it must have crossed your mind?"

Andrea nodded lightly, "One time, yeah, right before it tried to bite me,"

"And then you killed it?" Milton pressed, "I say "it" only because no one here likes to refer them as him or her,"

A small silence filled the room, Toby felt as if his anger was the only thing people could feel. He was frustrated that they had no consciousness of how their words were harsh to say around a child. Thomas's eyes remained glued to his plate, as he quietly shifted the eggs around his plate. Toby's heart clenched seeing how quiet he is. He could see the cogs turning in his brother's brain, and he wondered what the boy was thinking about.

"The two you had in chains, who were they?" Milton questioned brazenly. Michonne tensed up as she froze in her chair, but the man continued, "The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit. You did know them, didn't you?"

Toby's fork slipped from his fingers at the question, a look of disbelief flushed his face. Shocked that the man had confidently asked that question. Toby could only take so much more of this, "Can you watch what you say? You have no clue about what people have gone through. And maybe you people can censor yourselves around a literal child, it's very disrespectful and it's pissing me off,"

"You're right," Milton rushed out, eyes wavering to his cup, "Apologies,"

"Whatever," Toby scoffed, soon sinking further into his chair. His eyes moved from his brother to Michonne. The woman sent him a blank stare but he could see the thankfulness in her eyes. It only further proved his gauge on her feelings as the woman squeezed his arm lightly. The boy sent her a small nod in return.

"So what you have here, you expect it to hold? What if a herd comes through?" Andrea questioned, her eyes swirling with observation. Toby was doing the same as he paid attention to the little movements that the Governor and Milton were doing.

The Governor smiled in amusement, "It'll hold,"

"What's your secret?" The blonde pried, breaking the short silence that wafted into the room.

"Really big walls,"

The words made Toby roll his eyes in annoyance, and he could tell that Andrea was feeling the same as she ignored the joke and continued on, "That solider had walls too, and we know how that turned out,"

"I guess we do," The Governor paused, his demeanor changing completely, "The real secret is what goes on within these walls, it's about getting back to who we were, who we really are, they're just waiting to be saved. People here have homes, medical care, kids go to school, adults have jobs to do. There's a sense of purpose, we're a community,"

"With a lot of guns and ammunition,"

"You shouldn't try to get things back to the way they were," Toby blurted, which made all of the people turn their attention towards him.

The Governor sent him a dumbfounded glance, "Excuse me?"

Toby sighed, leaning his elbows on the table, ready to spill all of the thoughts that were filling his head, "Things are changing, they're never gonna be the way they were, while it's nice to wish things were back to normal, they just can't be. And it's better for people to understand what's out there than having them be blind to it all. Things should be made different, adapted to how the new world is,"

The people around him look astonished at the words, that was the first time they had heard Toby ever speak that much. The brunet boy could see the Governor taking in what he just said, the older man just smiled and nodded, "Very wise words Toby, I'm surprised that someone your age thinks like that, I'll keep them in mind,"

The boy acknowledged the dig but swallowed down the words he wanted to say and instead clenched his teeth and gave the man a sarcastic smile, "You do that,"

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✿❣︎ 𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀  ❣︎✿

HEY LONG TIME NO
SEE MY BABES!!!

NEW CHAPPIE COMING IN
WITH A VENGEANCE!!!

I hope you find it interesting,
it's a little short but whateva,
we got some soft Toby and
Michonne moments.

And I'm every excited for
Toby to develop and get
more brazen with everyone.
I know it seems like a long
time before he meets all ya
favs but it's just how the show
works and it'll come soon enough!

Hope you enjoyed!