❪ 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 ❫

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━
the act of getting caught. ╱ season three, episode five.
𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗪: depictions of homophobia

TOBY WATCHED in disdain at the others around him, occasionally sipping on the ice-cold drink that rested loosely in his grip. He couldn't believe his eyes right now. Watching these strangers run around smiling as they continued to live in their oblivious little world. Having to sit through this little display of delusion was exhausting, it was disgusting to watch the Governor a few feet away engaging in a lively conversation with one of his people. There was something about him that made Toby's stomach lurch.

The way the man carried himself, as if he was a god above everyone else, and Toby was itching just to knock him down a peg. The boy hated fake people, he hated watching people play pretend, playing a role they created for others to believe. This isn't theater, this is real life, there's no reason to act like you're above anyone else when you're riddled with secrets.

That was the thing about the Governor, he acts like he's an open book like he's got everything spread out on the table, but he doesn't, nothing he said is true, everything he said was a lie. And Toby was on his way to making it his mission to expose him. The Governor didn't deserve his position, and much as he liked to think he did, he didn't. Toby could tell there was more evil burrowing right under his nose, but he had yet to find out exactly what it is.

He still couldn't understand why they were still there, he was so surprised when Andrea told them that she wanted to stay another day and Michonne fucking agreed. They were supposed to be long gone by now, on their way to the coast. But here he was, sitting down at an empty picnic table, keeping an eye on his younger brother. He wasn't supposed to be watching his brother, Andrea was on babysitting duty, and while she was forcing him to branch out and "have some fun". He had no clue how he was supposed to do that in this place. So he sat, keeping an eye on his brother, hoping that the younger Emerson sibling would come to talk to him and keep him company, but he didn't. He stayed with the children he was playing with, all the littles were running around chasing someone's dog. God, he hadn't seen a dog in so long.

"Liking the little get-together?"

Toby jumped at the sudden chipper tone, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to hold in his annoyance, turning he met the blond he was desperately trying to avoid, "Is this a good way to use electricity?"

Nick. The boy has been desperately trying to gain his attention since he got here, but Toby had no interest in talking to an optimistic idiot like the blond. There had been a few instances where Toby was walking in town with Michonne and Nick had been waving spastically trying to get his attention but Toby just acted like he wasn't there. A little cruel? Yes. But it was vital for him to push people away, no matter how much they interested him.

It wasn't like Nick was this crazy in-depth person that Toby was itching to be around, the boy had just made an impression by openly flirting with Toby within thirty seconds of knowing him. Especially in the deep south of Georgia, taken by the wrong person, that's a hate crime just waiting to happen. The interest laid with how much of an open book Nick was, Toby didn't think he let his walls down enough for people to see him for he truly was. So why the hell did Nick find out in the span of seconds by just being around him?

"Eh, not really my decision, the Governor, he wanted it, so it happened," Nick responded, knocking Toby out of his thoughts. The boy was now sitting across from him, a drink in his hand, with the smell coming from it, he was guessing it was alcohol.

Toby stared at him a moment, trying to think of his words carefully, "You close with the Governor?"

"Yeah kinda," Nick responded, his word choice made it seem like there was a distance, but Toby could tell there was no space in their relationship, "He found me right after my camp fell, I was half dead, he saved me from being biter food,"

The boy nodded, looking down at the ice cubes swirling in his drink, "So you owe him your life,"

"I would say the Governor did it out of the kindness of his heart," Nick responded, taking a swig of his drink, "Just like he did with your group,"

Toby scoffed loudly, looking up from his glass to stare at the boy with intensity, "Having guns aimed at you, getting smashed in the nose with a butt of a pistol, and then kidnapped, doesn't exactly scream saving to me,"

The words visibly made the boy in front of him freeze, but the tension in his shoulder quickly faded away. "Well your blonde friend, she was really sick and we helped her, and you're here now, safe. So I wouldn't exactly call it a bad deal,"

"It's the fact that we didn't have a choice," Toby snapped back, his drink roughly dropped on the table, spilling over, but the boy could care less, "We didn't ask for help, but y'all just assumed, taking us and not giving us an option,"

There was a silence that followed his words, and it was apparent that they hit the boy in front of him, "I'm sorry Toby, I really am,"

The sincerity in his voice, made Toby's aggressive facade fall, "It's not your fault, and we're leaving tomorrow anyway, so it doesn't matter,"

Nick went to say something, but something caught Toby's attention from the corner of his eye. Looking to the side, he was met with Michonne gesturing to him to come to her. With that, Toby gave the boy a fake smile, sending him a little salute, "Well, as lovely as this has been, I've got better things to do,"

Toby barely gave him time to respond, as he was off, making his way down the street, going to meet Michonne, who was looking at him expectantly.

"What?"

The woman glanced between him and the blond who was still sitting at the picnic table, his eyes glued to the two of them, "Who the hell is that?"

Gazing back at the boy, he just shrugged in response to Michonne's question, "That's Nick, he's no harm, just an idiot like everyone else here,"

The woman nodded at the words, her eyes still glaring at the boy behind them, "Well, I'd be careful of him, you don't know what he's capable of,"

Toby scrunched up his eyebrows, a questioning look falling amongst his features, "I don't know, he seems harmless,"

"I know," Michonne said distantly, like her mind was somewhere else, "That's what I'm afraid of,"

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THE APARTMENT BUILDING was eerily quiet as the two made their way up the stairs. There were questioning glances getting thrown by the two of them. But they refused to let an uncomfortable feeling get in the way of their plan. Since others were distracted by the party, the two thought it would be the perfect plan to get their stuff back. Toby had been itching to get his weapon back since it got taken away when they first got kidnapped.

Toby felt like a child, he hated when things were taken away from him. They made him feel like a toddler that did something bad, so he needed his toy taken away. He already felt locked in a cage and them taking away his goddamn weapon is the icing on the fucking cake. It was so convenient that practically everyone was at that stupid party, he felt grateful for it surprisingly. Having to sit through it was suffocating, but now it made this process so easy.

The Governor's apartment was tense, the air was so stiff, that Toby felt like he couldn't breathe. They both slid into the room with stealth that would make a spy jealous. The door was shut, with absolutely no indication that it was even opened.

Toby's stomach dropped in unease. The apartment was picture perfect, nothing seems out of place, not even an empty cup or dirty clothes. It lacked a personality, the only thing that he could find was a family picture seemingly from before. He stared at it, examining the smiling faces, completely shocked at how genuine they looked.

His family portraits were never that genuine, they looked actually happy to be in each other's presence. The last time his family ever looked that happy in a photo was when Thomas was born as he huddled around his mom in her hospital bed, attempting to grab the newborn with his chubby five-year-old fingers. He can remember his mom's breathtaking smile as she watched him be so enamored by his new brother. His sister was right next to him, her smile just as bright watching the exchange.

But their father stood off to the side, watching his every move, the rough slur of "fairy" got thrown at him like a targeted attack. Toby, Jesus it's just a baby, stop acting like a girl, what're you a fairy? Toby remembers deflating, the entire energy of the room depleted. There was no longer a light that was shining because of the baby, the glimmer of hope disappeared just as his father opened his mouth. He was only five, he was excited about seeing his baby brother for the first time, why was it girlie for showing excitement to see his new sibling?

This was the first time he felt envy for the Governor, he had a happy family, and he had good memories before everything happened. He had the love Toby was lacking and he hated him for it.

"T,"

The nickname caused the boy's thoughts to shatter, turning he was met with Michonne holding his bat with a small smile. Toby felt the sadness he once had completely dissipate as soon as the bat was in his grip. A satisfied smile twisted on his lips as he held the bat with a vigor he had never felt before, almost fearful that if his hands untightened that it would crumble through his fingers.

Looking up from his moment, he found Michonne huddled over a small leather book. Keeping his bat by his side, Toby walked to her and glanced over her shoulder. There were plans and levels of the town's rankings. It all seemed normal, he genuinely read and agreed with some of the plans the Governor wrote down, his chest tightened in uneasiness at the thought. But then the next page was a list of names, Toby assumed it was the people he'd lost along the way, but then he noticed the last name. Penny.

The underline under the name made him uncomfortable, and then he saw the dashes. Michonne sent him a nervous glance as she flipped page after page, dashes filled the context of the entire sheet. His plans of a better town no longer existed, all that was left was slash after slash. A loud thumping up the stairs followed by a few voices made the boy jump, the two made brief eye contact before they heard the doorknob start turning.

Michonne grabbed Toby's hand and quickly dragged him with her as they hid in the next room as the governor and a few others waltzed in. Toby didn't pay attention to the words they were saying over his rising panic. If they got caught they were so dead, he didn't even have to think about it, the Governor was actually gonna murder them.

Toby was squeezed against the man's bookshelf, hoping that none of them needed to get something from the bedroom. Over his impending hysteria, Michonne was quick to gesture towards the window, which was wide open, shades billowing in the Georgia wind. Toby nodded without thinking, he was about to offer Michonne to get out first, but the woman pushed him towards the window first. The boy quietly snuck out of the window, stepping onto the fire escape, moving a little bit so the woman could climb onto it as well.

With that, the two started to make their way down the fire escape, Toby was constantly watching his surroundings, just to make sure no one was looking, that they'd be spotted by the Governor's Henchmen. But they weren't seen by a single soul.

The moment Toby's feet hit the ground, he felt a rush of relief run through him. He thought their little mission was done, but with the inquiring look Michonne had, he knew their adventure was far from over. While he wanted to convince her to just let it go, and go find Andrea and Thomas, but he knew the woman was hell-bent on finding out the truth about this place. And he would be damned if he let her do it all alone.

The two went deeper into the ally, soon pushing into a little path in between buildings that were riddled with vines. The two stopped in their tracks as they saw a metal staircase leading up into the vines. Making brief eye contact, Michonne glanced between him and his weapon. "Keep your guard up, we don't know where this leads,"

The boy nodded as he hesitantly followed up the stairs behind her, he was cautious, constantly looking behind him, fearing that someone was right behind them waiting to catch them. But no one was. That gave him some ease, but that calmness was quick to get ripped away as they walked into the vines, the unfamiliar pathway ahead. Small vines tugged at his whispy hair, but he just flicked them away, trying to ignore the impending thought that there most definitely are spiders hiding within the plants around them.

A breath of relief escaped his lips once the vines broke through, but the relief immediately disappeared at the view of the vacant open-looking space, it reminded him almost of the outside of an arena. Michonne stayed quiet as she took it all in, but Toby didn't hold his thoughts to himself. "What the hell is this place?"

The woman glanced back at him and gave him a small shrug in response, soon descending the staircase attached to the industrial building hoping to further investigate. Toby wanted to stop, not enjoying the eerie uncomfortable feeling swirling in his stomach, but he pushed on for Michonne.

It was quiet at first, the occasional bird call was the only thing heard, that was until they got to the bottom of the stairs. Toby took a quick glance into the building, seeing the empty bleachers inside along with large cement blocks with chains attached to them. What kind of fucked up arena is this? Then he heard the familiar hisses and garbled growls. He swallowed hard, eyes wavering to the large cage that was attached to the building. The two slowly made their way to the metal box, Toby's breath hitched in his throat watching the biters notice them.

Fingers began slotting out of the cage door, attempting to grab at the two in front of them, "Why the fuck does he have captive biters?"

Michonne paused, eyes still staring at the biters in front of her, "I don't know, but I don't like it,"

"We should get rid of them," Toby stated, his voice cold as he gripped his bat tighter.

The words broke her staring contest with the undead, and she finally turned to him, a look of mischief in her eyes, "Use 'em as a little warm up?"

Toby almost let out a small snort at the comment, but he nodded with a small smile, glancing down at his weapon, "Sure, could always use a little more practice before we head out,"

"Good,"

With those words, Michonne bent down grabbing a piece of metal that laid at her feet, soon beginning to hack into the lock. Toby took a few steps back, preparing himself for what was about to come. Within seconds, the gate slowly opened, and biters began tumbling out after Michonne, who was now in line with Toby.

They both gave each other a nod of acknowledgment, then they took their first swings. Toby swung almost immediately, the bat hit the biter closest to him with a sickening crack. The body was instantly thudding to the ground. Toby felt blood splatter on his skin, but he couldn't care less, the adrenaline rushing his veins was all he needed to push through.

Swing after swing, the biters crumbled to the ground and Toby felt more and more alive. With each rough thud to the head, Toby felt more like himself. This place changes you. Even if it's only been a few days, Toby forgot about the weight of the outside and here it was, lying dead on the ground below him.

Michonne glanced at him with a satisfied smile, which he was about to return, but the clank of something dropping caught his attention. Turning, he was met with a random person holding a bucket of what looked like to be guts. Toby sighed to himself, staring up at the sky. Guess they got caught after all.

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✿❣︎ 𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀  ❣︎✿

heyyyyyyy :)

Look at me updating good
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as you can see I'm very much back on
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lot of stuff in that universe

I also have a new twd fic coming soon?
If y'all want it! It's based around season
two with a greene oc x grimes oc
I'm really excited the main oc is Mia
goth with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as
her love interest! Lmk if y'all are
interested in that!

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!!