Nothing Happens in Sommerville (Part Fourteen)

Something’s wrong.

That was the first thought Bennet’s mind conjured upon waking up. He forced his eyes open and struggled to sit up in bed, groaning as the movement reawakened his injuries. Black and purple splotches decorated his skin like spilled paint. The mere act of breathing was accompanied with sharp pains. He gingerly touched his side before withdrawing his hand with a hiss.

“Bastard broke my ribs,” he murmured in disbelief. 

Bennet bit back a swear as he forced himself to his feet. Every movement sent a ripple of agony through his body, but he couldn’t stay in bed and neglect his duties—as much as he wanted to. It wouldn’t be wise to risk pissing Tye off any further, not after the intense beating he’d already received.

He glanced at the bed, knowing the sight of Mallory peacefully sleeping would reassure him. As long as he was the one getting hurt and not her, then he’d happily take any punishment Tye had for him. Seeing Mallory, safe and sound in their bed, always had a way of calming his fears—

Something’s wrong.

Empty. The bed was empty.

“M-Mal?”

Confusion sharpened into worry as he saw that her leg was gone too.

“Mallory?” Bennet asked, just a little louder as he checked the vacant bathroom. He wasn’t panicking. He wasn’t. “Mals?”

It took all his self-control to resist tearing their apartment apart. But his attempt at staying calm decreased with every empty room. He couldn’t keep his mind from wandering to the absolute worst scenarios. Where could she have gone? Why hadn’t she woken him? Did someone take her? 

He reached the door and frowned at the intact lock. When had Mallory or he ever locked the door? It was Sommerville, the “safest place in the world”—half the buildings didn’t even have locks.

The mysterious state of the door was pushed out of his mind by the scrap of paper resting on the hall table. His pain dulled as his stomach sank. That terrible sensation from when he’d first woken up was back. It crept over him, growing stronger and stronger as he read the words scribbled across the sheet. 

Needed to start early in the bakery today. I’ll see you after your shift!

Have a wonderful day, Dearest!

“Dearest?” Bennet read the word with a puzzled frown.

He couldn’t remember the last time Mallory had called him that, if ever. Certainly not in a note. And he knew for a fact that Mallory didn’t get up early for anything. She’d sleep the entire day away if given the chance.

Something’s wrong.

The looping letters imitating Mallory’s script blurred from his shaking rage, before he crumpled the paper in his fist. There was only one person in Sommerville who’d go to this much trouble to deceive him. Someone who wouldn’t want Bennet running around the compound and causing a scene about his missing wife.

Bennet returned to the bedroom only to grab his jacket and his gun, before storming out of his apartment. He sucked in a sharp breath and pushed himself through the pain of moving as he hastened to Sommerville’s hub. The artificial sunlight was dimmer than usual; not enough to raise concern, but enough for him to hear snippets of people complaining about the “overcast” sky. Sommerville’s mask was finally starting to slip.

A familiar figure waved at him from across the square. Bennet pretended not to notice the way Jayce’s bright smile dropped into a gaping stare. He internally groaned when Jayce began to rush toward him. He didn’t have time for this! There was only one person he was going to talk to right now, and it certainly wasn’t the young schoolteacher. 

“Good God, Ben!” Jayce’s alarmed greeting didn’t stop Bennet an inch. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m just peachy,” He answered flatly. “Never been better, actually.”

Jayce quickened his steps to keep up. “Uh, you sure?” The younger man chuckled nervously. “It’s just that, well, it looks like the gun’s scaring people a bit.”

Bennet rolled his eyes. “I’m a Wall Watcher. I always have a gun.”

“Not in your hand, and not inside the wall.” Jayce made a frustrated sound at being ignored and grabbed his arm. “Hey!”

Bennet stumbled to a halt as the slight tug unleashed a throbbing pain through his side. He doubled over, gritting his teeth against a scream and willing the churning in his stomach away. Jayce quickly released him, an apology already forming as Bennet slowly straightened up.

“What the hell is your problem?” Bennet snarled as he whirled around on Jayce.

“My problem?” The guilt in Jayce’s expression disappeared into annoyance. “I’m not the one marching through the streets half-dressed and in a blind rage.” His frown deepened as he caught sight of the bruises on Bennet’s body. The concern in his eyes made Bennet regret not grabbing a shirt. “Seriously, Ben. What’s going on?”

His softer tone stilled Bennet’s anger enough for him to take an assessing glance around. Jayce had made a fair point. In his furious urgency, he hadn’t given much thought to what the people of Sommerville would think. Not that he cared, really, but he did feel a twinge of guilt at the worried onlookers scrutinizing him from head to toe.

He took a breath and met Jayce’s gaze. “Mallory’s in danger.”

“Danger?” Jayce blurted out in surprise. “In Sommerville?”

A stir of movement caught Bennet’s attention. With dread, he saw Willen and two other Watchers begin to force their way through the small crowd that had started to gather. There was a sadistic smirk on Willen’s face, as if he’d been hoping for a chance to break more of Bennet’s bones.

“I can’t explain right now,” Bennet said, already backing away.

“Explain what?” Jayce glanced back to see the approaching Watchers, before turning to Bennet with worry. “What’s going on?”

Willen shoved the couple blocking him out of the way and cocked his head, like a predator calculating the best attack against its prey. Their eyes met and Bennet wondered how he ever could have thought Willen was his friend.

“I have to find Mallory!” He wasn’t sure if he was answering Jayce’s question or pleading his case to the Watchers. “Don’t believe anything Tye says!”

“Oh, Bennie,” Willen tsked disapprovingly. Then he grinned. “Get him.”

Bennet ran without waiting to see if the other Watchers would obey. He might have been their commander, but he’d always known that their loyalty was to the wall. To Tye.

He didn’t look back at the sound of horrified gasps and frantic questions from the crowd. Let the others spin this however they wanted. He’d already made peace with the fact that this would be his last day behind the wall. 

Mallory had been taken for a reason. Deep down, he’d always expected it. It was only a matter of time before her memory returned and she’d become too much of a risk for Tye to keep around. Bennet had just assumed the compound would have collapsed before then.

But she’d seen through the lies without him realizing it. And he’d been foolish enough to put a target on their backs. Now, she was gone. Each passing second tightened the noose around the life they could have had, replacing the dreams for the future with a mourning for what would never be.

But they weren’t dead yet. Tye wouldn’t have killed Mallory, not right away. And even a few extra heartbeats with her would be enough.

The loaded gun was a comfort in his hand as he slammed the doors to Tye’s office open. Of course the Watchers would catch up, there was no way they hadn’t realized his destination. Which was fine. He wasn’t planning on escaping.

He cocked the gun as he walked through the old chapel, down the aisle he’d tread so many times before. When he was appointed as Commander of the Wall Watchers. His and Mallory’s wedding. The first funeral in Sommerville, and the final one, before he and Tye had to get more creative with their disposals.

Upon the raised platform where a preacher once stood decades earlier was Tye’s empty desk. Of course he wouldn’t be waiting out in the open for Bennet. That would be too reckless. Someone could overhear.

He looked to the right, where he knew a door was nestled into the corner. Tye’s private office, the one containing all the damning information that he and Tye had kept hidden from Sommerville for years. Light spilled from under the door like a golden runway.

Bennet tightened his grip on his gun. As he approached, the last conversation he’d had with Mallory ran through his mind. She’d asked him if he would kill to keep her and their unborn child safe.

He wondered how she couldn’t have already known the answer.

Bennet slammed the unlocked door open and raised the gun. “Where’s Mallory?!”

Sommerville’s leader held a finger up to silence Bennet and continued skimming the papers on his desk. The apathetic reception threw him off for a split second before he shook his head and stormed forward.

“Where is she, Tye?!” Bennet shouted. “I know you took her!”

“She’s fine,” Tye murmured in a tone that suggested he wasn’t really listening.

Bennet cocked the gun and aimed it at his friend’s forehead. “TYE!”

With a weary sigh, Tye lifted his gaze from the file he was reading and spared a brief glance at the gun before meeting Bennet’s stare. There wasn’t an ounce of fear on his face.

“I told you,” Tye said calmly, like this was just another meeting between two old friends. “She’s fine.” 

“Then why don’t I believe you?” Bennet growled.

“How should I know?”

“That’d be a first, since you act like you know everything all the time!”

“I know everything that goes on in Sommerville, yes. But only because people I know I can trust keep me informed.”

Bennet laughed bitterly. “What, like Willen?”

“Like you,” Tye said quietly.

The angry retort Bennet had ready died on his tongue. He frowned at Tye, trying to see if his friend was lying or not. Yet everything in Tye’s expression appeared sincere—if not also a bit disappointed in Bennet.

He suddenly felt tired, the adrenaline that had carried him thus far giving way to the exhaustion and pain weighing on his bones. Almost against his will, his finger began to ease on the trigger. He’d come in here prepared to scream at Tye, to curse him and the day he was born, and put an end to this hell they lived in once and for all.

But instead of seeing the horrible monster he’d been picturing Tye as, he found himself looking at his oldest friend. The one who’d always been there for him, who always made a point to bring him along on his plans. And he was still furious about Mallory, of course he was, and he would tell Tye that, but first—

“Are you sorry?”

Tye’s lips twitched into a half-smile, the way they always did when he thought Bennet had asked a silly question. “For what?”

“All of it.”

Tye seemed to consider the question for a long moment before shrugging. “What good would it do for me to be sorry, now? The things we did—You think they can be forgiven if we’re sorry?” He shook his head with a bitter chuckle. “No. A simple apology isn’t enough, not for us. But I think you already knew that, Bennet.”

Bennet flinched at the creak of Tye’s chair scraping against the floor. Tye rose from his seat and walked around his desk to stand directly before Bennet. He hadn’t noticed how bloodshot Tye’s eyes were, or the grey beginning to peek into his dark hair. The years had weighed upon both of them for so long. 

“Atonement,” Tye said quietly as he glanced at the gun leveled at his chest. “Sin washed out with blood. Isn’t that what the scriptures say?”