Nothing Happens in Sommerville (Part Fifteen)

(Merry Christmas friends! I hope everyone is staying warm this December & is excited about spending time with friends & family <3 Just a heads up, this'll be the last post for 2025, but I'll be back with regular blog posts on Jan. 7th! See y'all in the New Year!!)

“Did you come here to kill me, Bennet?” 

The softness in Tye’s voice surprised Bennet. He’d expected a very different reaction from aiming a gun at Sommerville’s leader. Anger, certainly. Maybe fear, though he wasn’t convinced Tye had ever been capable of that. But not this. This strange gentleness. 

“You did, didn’t you?” There wasn’t any accusation behind the question as Tye grinned. “I can see it in your face. Admit it.”

Bennet shook his head, trying to muster the rage from before. “Just tell me where she is, Tye. That’s all I want.”

“And then what?” Tye’s smile sharpened. “We pretend this never happened? I might be able to forgive and forget, but I have a funny feeling your wife will not. And then there are the Watchers, who I imagine won’t appreciate your actions today.” He cocked his head, as if an idea had just occurred to him. “Unless. . . you leave.”

Leave Sommerville? Take Mallory and their unborn child into a world of toxic darkness and ravenous beasts? The idea was so horrible that Bennet felt sick.

“W-what? No!” Bennet stammered in disbelief. “You can’t send Mallory out there while she’s pregnant! She’ll die!” 

Tye shot him a ‘duh’ expression. “Yet you decided to wave a gun in my face anyway. I mean, really. What did you think would happen, Bennet?”

“I. . .” Bennet hesitated under Tye’s condescending smirk. “Look, I’m the one who’s being insubordinate, not Mallory. I was the one who made her start questioning everything. She hasn’t done anything wrong, there’s no reason to punish her for my mistakes!” He lowered the gun. “Do whatever you want to me, but please don’t hurt her! Let her stay in Sommerville for as long as it stands.”

The smug air around Tye faded as he frowned at Bennet. It was impossible to tell what the man was thinking. He crossed his arms slowly and exhaled like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

“What’s the point?”

The sudden change in Tye’s demeanor worried Bennet. “What?”

“Why are you even bothering with this? Fighting for Mallory to live another day. . . What’s the point, Bennet?” Tye asked bitterly. “I let you two live or I don’t, and either way, we’ll all be dead in a week. You know it just as well as I do. Sommerville’s over.”

Bennet couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not from Tye. “We can still—”

“Stop lying to me,” Tye snapped. There was a dark gleam in his eyes as he met Bennet’s gaze. “We’ve known each other for a very long time. I know I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with, but there used to be a time when you weren’t afraid to tell me exactly what you think. So I am asking you, Bennet Winchester, to look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that Sommerville will survive.” 

A million responses ran through Bennet’s mind. The lies that had been ground into his and the other Wall Watchers’ minds so much that they rolled off the tongue automatically. The paranoia he and Tye had read in reports from compounds in their final days, before succumbing to the darkness mankind had unleashed on the world.

He thought about the hopeful delusions the world’s leaders had fed to everyone. The promise that everything would be okay and life would go back to the way it was. Or, at the very least, that the compounds would be safe.

That had been true. Except that no one had planned on them lasting longer than two years. 

Bennet had done so much to keep Sommerville going. He’d sacrificed everything for a man he no longer believed in. The lies and rules they’d wielded over the people of Sommerville seemed cruelly futile now. What had it all been for, when they’d both known deep down that this would always be the way it ended? 

“I can’t say that Sommerville will survive,” Bennet admitted. “The compound sure won’t. The dome’s cracks have been spreading. Our walls have been decaying faster by the day, and we’re at the end of our food stores. But,” he took a steadying breath under Tye’s glare, “that doesn’t mean we should give up. We have a duty to the people under our protection to at least try.”

Tye arched a brow. “And what would you suggest?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ve been looking at it wrong? Maybe we should have been sending people out to see what’s around us? Mallory was out there before she found us, and she didn’t even have a gasmask. With the right planning and gear, we could send search parties out for supplies or maybe another compound—”

“You mean tell people the truth,” Tye interrupted sharply. 

The coldness in Tye’s stare sent a chill through Bennet. He knew that was the one rule Tye considered the most important. It was the final line Bennet hadn’t yet crossed.

“Yes. I don’t see what harm it can do now,” Bennet said. “And. . . it’s what we should have been doing since the beginning.”

Tye held Bennet’s gaze for a moment more, before he hung his head with a disappointed sigh. He turned his back to him, either uncaring of the gun or trusting that Bennet wouldn’t use it, and reached for something behind his desk. Over the pounding in his ears, Bennet could hear a low hissing in the room.

“You’re just like her,” Tye muttered after a moment. “I should have known she’d lead you astray.”

Bennet’s heart stopped at the hatred in Tye’s voice. “Where did you take her?”

“Both of you, refusing to listen to me when I’m the only one who knows what’s best,” Tye complained as he found whatever it was he was searching for.

“Please, Tye. Just tell me where Mallory is.”

Tye turned to Bennet with an annoyed scowl. “She’s safe. I promise.”

Bennet was too worried about Mallory to give much thought to the small half mask in Tye’s hands. He’d nearly forgotten gas masks like those existed. The lack of eye coverings made them useless on the wall. It was odd for Tye to have one.

“Then let me see her.”

“You will,” Tye promised. He took a breath, almost like he was tasting the air, before putting on the half mask. “I’m sure you two will find each other on the other side.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bennet demanded. Well, he’d meant to sound demanding. But to his surprise, the words came out flat. “What have you done, Tye?”

There was a glitter of amusement in Tye’s eyes that made Bennet wish the mask covered his whole face. “Like I said, Mallory is safe. For now.”

“For now?!” Bennet shouted, though he didn’t sound nearly as angry as he wanted to. He raised his gun and charged. “You bastard, I’ll—”

One step was all he managed before he crashed sideways into the wall. 

It should have hurt, especially with his cracked ribs, but the pain was only a distant thrum. Confused, Bennet struggled to his feet and had to lean against the wall just to stay upright. Some faraway voice in his mind told him something was very wrong, yet Bennet felt strangely relaxed.

“What. . . What is happening?” Bennet fixed his unsteady gaze on Tye. “W-what did you do to me?”

“Oh, nothing really.”

“Liar!” Bennet fired the gun. 

“Hm.” Tye turned his head to see the new hole in his wall. The bullet hadn’t come close to hitting him. “Missed.”

Bennet staggered forward and half-collapsed against a chair. He felt like he had no control over his body as he forced his arms to aim the gun again. The muzzle swung wildly between Tye and the rest of the room.

“This seems rather unsafe,” Tye mused, before leaning forward and yanking the gun from his hands with alarming ease. “The whole point of this was to calm you down, but it seems to be having an opposite effect.”

Bennet stared at his empty hands, still trying to comprehend how Tye had disarmed him so quickly. “Calm me down?” Sluggishly, it clicked in his brain. The hissing sound he’d heard and Tye’s gas mask. He suddenly grinned at the absurdity of it all. “Oh, God. You didn’t.” The chemicals in the air turned his horror into laughter. “Tye, please.”

“Ah, there we go.” He knew Tye was smiling under his mask. “Figured it would kick in soon.”

“I have to get out of here,” Bennet announced, still laughing despite the sinking feeling in his stomach.

He tried to stand but Tye was faster. His fingers dug into Bennet’s shoulders as he forced him back into the chair. Bennet’s legs gave out from under him as a heavy fatigue began to creep over him. He tried to fight the gas’s effects, but couldn’t. It felt like he was sinking, all sensations slowly being replaced with a numb peacefulness.

“Let me go.” The dim panic he felt turned into terror at the sound of the door opening behind him. “Let me go, Tye!”

“Shh, don’t fight it.” Tye’s soothing voice only unnerved Bennet more. “I’ve been saving this canister since the dome first went up. You should appreciate that, actually. You’re getting the really good shit.”

“Seriously?” Bennet asked. He wished he could stop smiling. “After everything we’ve been through, you won’t even give me the decency of a good death? You’re going to kill me like this?”

“Kill you? Do you have any idea how that would look after the stunt you pulled this morning?” Tye gestured at the figure in his doorway. “No way in hell am I letting you off that easily.”

Heavy footsteps announced a Wall Watcher, dressed in full gear. Judging from the way the man loomed over him—and from how the day had been going thus far—Bennet guessed it was Willen.

“Now, I’m going to attempt to calm everyone down after your public spectacle,” Tye said once he was certain Bennet was helplessly immobile. “And you’re going to take a much needed break. If you’re smart, you’ll come back ready to work and remembering what actually matters. If you don’t, then Willen here will help you remember.”

Bennet fought against the dizzying ecstasy that was growing stronger and stronger. “I know what matters, and there’s nothing either of you can do to change that. Might as well throw me off the wall.”

“That’s what I said,” Willen grunted. He turned his gas mask to Tye with an irritated scoff. “Should have tossed Mallory over, too. Would have saved all of us some time.” 

“If you think either of them are getting a quick death after ruining everything, you’re wrong.” Tye narrowed his eyes at Bennet with fury. “Whether things end with Sommerville collapsing or the people ripping us apart like they did to Summer, you’re going to be here to face it with me.” He lowered his voice to where only Bennet could hear. “There’s a price to be paid for what we did, Bennet. And I’m not paying that bill alone.”

The venom in Tye's expression was so shocking that Bennet couldn’t help bursting into another laughing fit. His eyes watered like he’d just heard the best joke in his life. Internally, he was desperately trying to think of a way to get out of this office and find Mallory.

“Why didn’t we do this sooner?” Willen chuckled. “He’s way more fun like this.”

“This isn’t meant to be fun,” Tye snapped. “And if I come back here to see that you’ve doped him up without my permission, so help me God—”

“Yeah, yeah. You want this business as usual.” Willen cracked his knuckles. “I know.”

Tye glared between Willen and Bennet like he couldn’t believe the idiots he was stuck working with. “Just do your job while I fix everything. Like always.”

“Got it boss,” Willen saluted sarcastically.

Tye’s hands balled into fists before he stormed out of his office, leaving Bennet at Willen’s mercy.