Nothing Happens in Sommerville (Part Six)

“Knock-knock,” Bennet said as he peeked into Tye’s office. “You got a sec?"

Compared to the false summer outside, the room was depressingly claustrophobic. Dust caked the tall, stained-glass windows and dulled the sunlight into a somber darkness. Although the building hadn’t been used as a chapel for a long, long time, Bennet always felt like he was intruding when he entered the main atrium. Yet, it felt fitting in a macabre way for the chapel to be turned into Tye’s office.

A place where people could connect with a higher power and seek refuge, turned into the last semblance of order and hope in a godless world.

Aside from the desk and chairs on the raised platform acting as Tye’s office, the room was empty. Once it had contained countless boxes of spare supplies to be delivered to Sommerville as needed. They’d run out of those about a year ago.

Tye flicked his gaze up from the file he was reading and narrowed his eyes with immediate suspicion. “What’s wrong now?”

There was no point in delaying the inevitable. With a sigh, Bennet walked toward one of the plush chairs across from Tye’s desk and all but collapsed into it. He ran his hands through his hair and stared up at the ceiling.

“You want the bad news or the even worse news first?” He asked tonelessly.

“That’s not really a choice,” Tye grumbled. “Fine, the regular bad news, I guess.”

Bennet took a breath and shook off the final dredges of guilt. “Sawyer missed his shift again. That’s the second week in a row he’s neglected his post at the wall. I tried talking to him but...” He twisted the wedding band around his finger. “I think it’s time to admit he’s not serving Sommerville anymore.”

Tye had been listening with a bored frown until he caught Bennet’s phrasing. His eyes widened in surprise as he straightened in his chair and asked, “What was that? Not serving Sommerville anymore?”

Bennet managed a short nod. He knew if he tried to speak he’d only take back what he said.

“You’re sure?” Tye’s serious expression betrayed his true question; Do you know what you’re doing?

“Yes,” Bennet said quietly. He stared at his hands, the shadows covering them like they were bloodstained already.

“Okay, then. We’ll handle it at the meeting tonight.” Tye’s hard frown shifted into a petulant scowl. “Great. Down another Watcher. Thought I had selected the best-of-the-best but you’re all out there dropping like flies!” 

His fingers twitched toward a bite-covered pen before Tye forced his hands in his lap. Bennet resisted a smile. All these years and Sommerville’s leader still craved a cigarette. Not that he could talk.

The things I’d do for a stiff drink, he thought forlornly. If he had known the world was going to end, he wouldn’t have wasted his last drink on a crappy, overpriced IPA.

“If it makes you feel better, Sawyer’s a rare case. I don’t think we’d be having any issues if Violet were still around.” Bennet’s heart ached at the thought of anything happening to Mallory. “Though I can’t imagine how anyone could recover from a thing like that.”

“Yes, her death was unfortunate.” Tye’s tone indicated he had no idea who Violet was. “But that doesn’t excuse it. Sawyer knew what he was signing up for. The wall always comes first.” 

Bennet rolled his eyes. He was the last person that needed lecturing on the sanctity of the wall. Everyday he faced the dangers that lurked beyond their borders; the inhospitable world and mutant monsters that were only separated by a pitiful slab of rock and glass. Almost every night, Bennet found himself clinging to Mallory’s sleeping form with a protective hand on her stomach as the horrors of the world infected his thoughts.

He knew how important the wall was.

“How’s it going out there, anyway?” Tye asked suddenly. “The world still look the same? Still all,” he made an odd waving gesture, “you know, blegh?”

“Blegh?” Bennet repeated with a snort.

“Stop.”

 “That the official term they used in the reports?”

“You know what I meant,” his friend grumbled, cheeks darkening with a slight blush. “Seriously, though. Does it look like it’s getting any better? Any chance that... that this can end?”

Bennet’s smile faded at the question. He could tell Tye was trying not to get his hopes up; and failing miserably.

There was a time during that first year when Bennet would go to the wall with a smile and an unwavering belief that the world was healing. Everyday he convinced himself that he’d seen something indicative of change, something that allowed him to keep up the delusional belief that life wasn’t over.

But then one year had stretched into two. One day, their contact at the Pentagon didn’t answer the radio. Telegraphed commands stopped coming in. And just when he and Tye thought they couldn’t be anymore screwed, Mallory had shown up.

Bloodied, missing a leg, delirious, and screaming about her compound’s collapse.

It was a miracle she hadn’t died out there. And a blessing that her head injury had apparently given her total amnesia of the events leading up to her arrival. When they realized she couldn’t remember anything, they made their plan. Tye had gotten all the information from her that he could, while weaving lies about her past into their conversations. He was her trusted friend, always there to dissuade her fears about creatures in the dark waiting to attack. And when the time was right, he introduced her to Bennet; someone who could make her feel safe while keeping an eye out for any of those unwanted memories that might try to return.

Bennet adored Mallory. Loved her, in a way he’d never loved anyone before. He hadn’t planned on it, but she made it hard not to fall for her. He didn’t mind that everything she knew about him was false, not when the lies gave them so much more in common. When Mallory had first been stunned by Sommerville’s “sunsets,” Bennet had conveniently also enjoyed watching them, even if the truth was that staying still for so long bored him to tears. When Mallory had mentioned that she missed her family, Bennet had decided it was time for her to meet his “parents,” who were really just an older couple he and Tye had bribed to play the part. And when Mallory had shyly confessed to him one night that she still dreamed about getting married, Bennet had repressed his disdain for being tied down and organized the biggest wedding Sommerville had ever seen. 

But the lies were worth it. Mallory was always happy, now. And Bennet would continue to lie until his final breath if that’s what it took to keep her that way.

Still, it was a relief to not have to pretend around Tye. Even if that meant it would extinguish the spark of hope in his friend.

“No. No, Tye, it’s actually not getting better,” Bennet said. “It’s worse. Worse than when all of this first started. Worse than what everyone predicted it would be.”

Tye looked uncomfortable as Bennet’s voice grew more frantic. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is! Oh, God, believe me it is,” he argued as he jumped to his feet and began to pace in front of Tye’s desk. “They said it would be like this for a few months at most. They said we’d find a way to adapt, that this wouldn’t be the end. And now they’re all dead!”

“Ben, we don’t know that,” Tye began, though he looked unsure.

Bennet whirled on him with a glare. “Oh come off it, yes we do! When’s the last time you talked to someone from Above? Or from the other compounds? Or even from the United damn Nations?” The silence was answer enough. “Why aren’t they answering anymore? Because they’re all dead, Tye! We’re the last ones left on the entire planet, which means everyone is looking to us to figure this out!” He glared up at the fake sunshine struggling to fill the room. “And the worst part is, we shouldn’t even be here! We don’t deserve to be here. Everyone else earned their spots in the compound, while our dads just handed them to us on a silver platter.”

“Speak for yourself,” Tye said with a wry smile. “My father may have footed the bill, but I worked for my spot.”

“Last I checked, kissing ass as a “hilltern” hardly counts as work.”

Fury flickered in Tye’s dark eyes as he rose from his seat. “That’s rich coming from the fed drop-out. At least I wanted to make something out of my life! All you ever did was blow your daddy’s money and bribe your way out of trouble every other weekend.” His gaze pierced Bennet’s soul. “Why’d you ask to be in Sommerville in the first place? You could have spent the last few years goofing off at any other compound and yet you chose to come here even though everyone knew it was a joke of a shelter at best. Why?” 

“Because!” Bennet’s face burned as he admitted, “I just... I wanted to prove that I wasn’t useless, alright?” He rubbed his eyes, suddenly very tired. “It’s... Nothing I did mattered in the Before times. I didn’t take anything seriously and I was never expected to accomplish anything since my dad...” He cleared his throat and continued, “Tye, you know I wasn’t a good person. But I thought if I did something right here, then it would...” He sighed and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. None of it matters. Not with the crack in the dome.”

Tye’s face grew ashen as he stared at Bennet. “The what?”

“That was the other thing I was going to tell you. There’s a crack in the dome.” Bennet shifted on his feet. “Considering the state of the wall I guess it’s not that surprising but—”

“Oh, God.”

Bennet fell silent at the barely audible interruption. Tye wandered off to the stained glass windows, eyes glued to their dusty panes as if all the answers he needed were hidden inside them. The silence of the old chapel felt oppressive in a way that made it hard for Bennet to catch his breath. He took a step toward Tye, hoping that shell-shocked expression would be gone by the time he turned around.

“You’ll... you’ll think of something. Right? I mean, you always do.” Bennet’s words felt more like a desperate pleading than a true statement.

Tye faced him with a hollow dejection. When he shook his head, it felt like the tightening of a noose.

“Sommerville’s over, Bennet. We failed.”