Nothing Happens in Sommerville (Part Twelve)

Guilt crawled across Mallory’s conscience as she snuck out of bed. Her fingers trembled as she secured her prosthetic to her leg, a hissed swear slipping through her gritted teeth as she fumbled with the straps in the dark. At least she’d been making a habit of leaving her leg by her nightstand instead of in its usual spot in her closet.

It shouldn’t have been so nerve-wracking to move around in her own home, but she couldn’t stop her heart from racing at every little sound. The creak of the mattress’s rusty springs turned into alarms as each groan and murmur of the floorboards shouted of betrayal. Only when she reached the bedroom door did she dare turn around.

She let out a sigh of relief at seeing Bennet hadn’t moved. He was still sprawled out on his back, practically dead to the world and, for once, not wearing the exhausted grimace of a man who’d been stretched too far. He looked peaceful for a change.

But Mallory couldn’t keep her eyes from straying downwards to where silvery moonlight illuminated patterns of black and blue on his chest. She’d noticed him wincing on the walk home from dinner, but she hadn’t expected the shock of bruises greeting her when she’d taken his shirt off. He hadn’t given her a chance to ask about it, using caresses and kisses to lead her thoughts to somewhere more pleasant.

It would have worked if Mallory hadn’t been so certain of who was responsible.

Still, she knew he wasn’t telling her for a reason, and that prying would lead to an argument she was too tired to have. So she played along, pretending to drift off to sleep while suppressing the embers of fury beginning to ignite in her chest. Bennet was hiding the truth from her. Tye was outright lying to her face. If they wouldn’t tell her what was going on, then Mallory would find out for herself.

With one last glance at her husband, Mallory crept through their apartment and cautiously opened the front door. She paused, ears straining for any movement from Bennet, before slipping outside. The chill air sent a shiver through her bones. If she’d known the night would be this cold in the middle of the summer, she would have changed out of her threadbare pajamas. 

It was unusually quiet as she tip-toed through the streets of Sommerville. All the lights were off, leaving her only the faint moonlight and her memory as a guide. The farther she walked, the more her sense of unease grew. She abruptly came to a stop, finally realizing what was making the night feel so off. 

The lack of wind. Despite the frigid temperature, there wasn’t even the slightest breeze. There wasn’t anything. The air was stagnant. Artificial. 

Dead.

Mallory frowned and stared up at the sky. Why was the night so still? She knew that not all of earth had returned back to normal, but the weather had always seemed nice enough. She and Bennet had spent many evenings outside, enjoying the pleasant summer breeze, their fingers inching together as they basked in the moonlight.

Her memory was interrupted by the moon flickering.

A weight settled in Mallory’s stomach as her eyes widened in shock. She held back her startled gasp as the moon glitched again then went out entirely, replacing the gray-white ball with darkness. Before Mallory could think of what to do, it slowly came back to life, like an old fluorescent struggling to power on. After a few seconds, it was perfectly normal, like nothing had happened.

“What. . . What was. . .” She stammered out, looking around in hopes that someone else had seen the illusion. But the night was just as empty as when she’d first ventured out. She gaped up at the moon again, half-hoping, half-dreading to see the light go out a second time. Not that she’d know what to do if it did. 

After a few minutes, it was clear that whatever had happened had passed. Mallory tore her gaze away from the sky and set her sights on her destination. She took a shaky breath before resuming her journey, walking faster than before.

Don’t think about it, she ordered herself. You’re just tired and seeing things. That’s all.

Her pulse thudded in her ears with the nauseating accompaniment of deja vu. This was familiar, somehow. She’d been here before, with the stagnant air and flickering moon. But every time she tried to remember when, her mind came up blank. All she could uncover were dim shadows of an unfamiliar past and a looming sense of dread.

Her frustration at the empty patches in her memory made her walk go by quickly. She slowed to a halt just a few steps away from the wall. In the darkness, the large metal structure seemed to stretch endlessly into the void of night. Mallory swallowed nervously, feeling the prickles of dozens of eyes on her. But when she looked, there was no one to be found.

“It’s fine,” she whispered to herself. “It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong.” Yet.

She began to walk the perimeter of the wall, hand trailing against its smooth surface. The chill of the metal seeped into her bones. Her fingers had gone completely numb, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Not until she found the East Door.

She knew where the other entrances to the wall were, but all of them felt too exposed. From what Bennet had told her, no one used the eastern door; most of the Watchers forgot it existed. But most importantly, it was the farthest door from Tye’s office.

“Yes,” Mallory breathed when her hands finally brushed against a handle.

Her skin crawled at the shrill creak of metal-against-metal as she pushed the door open just wide enough to slip inside. She practically slammed it shut and leaned against it, heart pounding and convinced someone had heard her. It technically wasn’t against the rules for non-Watchers to be inside the wall’s ground level, but being caught sneaking around at night wouldn’t help her case.

After a stretch of silence, Mallory decided the coast was clear. Still, she tried to keep her steps light and did her best to avoid knocking anything out of place as she explored. It was hard not to feel creeped out by the faint red glow of the emergency lights casting the room in a bloody hue. The longer she searched, the more she was convinced this was a bad idea. She wasn’t even sure what she was searching for! Proof, perhaps? Some kind of evidence that would force Tye and Bennet to stop lying?

Whatever it was, she knew there were only two places either of them would dare hide their secrets in. And the wall seemed like a much safer place to search than Tye’s office.

To her annoyance, the eastern side of the wall was empty. Lockers contained nothing but dust and cobwebs. The computer screens were cracked and refused to turn on, no matter how many times she clicked the power button. She rummaged through a desk, sighing as she found some dried pens and a handmade calendar. Her eyes had adjusted in the dark enough for her to make out the faded print: August 2059.

Mallory frowned. That was when she’d first arrived at Sommerville after her wreck. A tendril of unease coiled in her gut as she squinted at the calendar. The dates had been marked through with slashes up to the 12th—the very day she’d been found—then abruptly stopped. She studied the rest of the calendar, finding the future months already written out, but those days had been left unmarked as well, as if the owner had stopped wanting to track time since Mallory’s arrival.

She carefully set the calendar back where she’d found it, her sense of something being wrong only growing with her confusion. After wandering the space more and discovering nothing remarkable, Mallory continued on. Her steps echoed in the quiet metal corridor as she ventured to the northern side. A dim glint in the distance crescendoed into a blinding glow as she drew closer to the main entrance of the wall, allowing her to hope that maybe, just maybe, she’d find something useful.

After listening for any signs of a Watcher, Mallory tread into the central room. It was double the size of the eastern one, and much more maintained. She realized this area was heated when the cold that had been haunting her began to thaw. She spared a glance at the lockers, noting that they were all labeled, before her eyes trailed to a large desk pressed against the wall.

Unlike the eastern side, the computers in this room were up and running. Her palms prickled with sweat as she crept toward the humming boxes. It had been so long since she’d seen technology like this. Digital numbers and letters blinked up at her from the screen, offering a momentary illusion that life had returned to normal.

But Mallory’s ability to pretend vanished as she realized what she was actually seeing. The cryptic combinations of code began to form into a horrifying picture, one that Mallory hoped she was misinterpreting while knowing she wasn’t.

Compound Directory

UN Offline

PNTGN Offline

BALT Terminated

NY Offline

CHI Terminated

TYO Offline

PAR Offline

MOW Terminated

On and on the list continued. A few of the abbreviations were familiar, indicating cities and countries that were either grayed out and ‘offline’ or bright red with the word ‘terminated’ next to it. Only one on the entire list was different:

SOM Online

“That has to be Sommerville,” Mallory whispered to herself. 

She scrolled through the list again and again before stopping at the one green dot in a sea of bloody red and lifeless gray. She trembled as she stared at the damning screen, before shaking her head and staggering away, as if distance from the computer would make the truth easier to bear. 

Mallory screamed when her back slammed into something cold and metallic with a loud clang. Whirling around, she realized she had run into a locker. She exhaled in relief and chuckled a little at her overreaction. Her smile faded as her gaze trailed up to the nameplate on the locker. Someone had attempted to scratch the name out, but Mallory could still easily see ‘SAWYER’ in big bold letters. A paralysis gripped her when she noticed the door was partially open.

I shouldn’t, she told herself while continuing to stare at the thin gap. It’s not right. There’s probably nothing inside, anyway. 

Against her better judgement, Mallory raised a hand and cracked the door open wider. Almost instantly, she wished she hadn’t.

A gas mask stared into Mallory’s soul with eyeless judgement at her invasion of privacy. Sawyer’s bullet-proof vest was hanging on the hook, while various articles of dark clothing were neatly folded on a shelf. Faded pictures of Sawyer and Eden were carefully taped to the metal walls, most depicting the two siblings as young children in the Before times. Arranged on the top shelf was a dried violet, resting on top of a sheet of paper that was worn from being read dozens of times and spotted with teardrops.

She recalled Eden mentioning something about Sawyer’s partner being sent to the other compounds. The doctor had been worried about her brother, who seemed far too depressed for what was supposed to be a temporary separation. Mallory had never thought to mention it to Bennet, but now she wished she had.

Because Eden had been right, Sawyer’s grief over his lover’s transfer wasn’t normal. Countless Watchers and sick Sommervillians being sent to other compounds but never coming back hung over Mallory like a thick cloud as she stared at the meager collection of Sawyer’s treasured possessions; possessions he’d never willingly leave behind.

She reached into the locker for the gas mask. Her thumb traced its cold goggles before she put it on. Her insides twisted at the musty taste of filtered air filling her senses. Feeling light-headed, Mallory walked to the only part of the room she hadn’t explored, a large elevator, and hit the faded button for up.

Her filtered breaths sounded loud against the mechanical hum of the elevator. A part of her was begging to go back down, to return home before the weight of the truth became too much to ignore. But Mallory needed to see it for herself. She had to know what was on the other side of the wall.

She flinched at the sudden bright red light engulfing her, followed by a mechanical voice. “Now approaching North Summit. Reminder: PPE is required for all personnel at all times.” The elevator stopped with a cheerful ding. “Thank you for serving Sommerville.”

Mallory had been bracing herself for the worst. Fire and brimstone, unending oceans, prehistoric monsters—all the usual suspects in apocalyptic stories from the Before times. But that still wasn’t enough to prepare her for what was waiting outside the wall.

Darkness. Darkness and nothing more.

It was a darkness that boarded on impossible, the kind that has a weight to it and suffocates the senses. Even the faint light spilling out from the elevator couldn't cut through a night that was so thick and unyielding. Mallory inched out of the elevator and stumbled at the powerful wind swirling around her. Her wooden prosthetic scraped and slipped against the uneven mix of metal and rock, until one howling blast of air forced her to the ground.

Mallory crashed onto her knees as her hands protectively wrapped around her stomach. She closed her eyes against the wailing sky and wanted to scream back in return. Tears rolled down her face, soaking the fabric of the gas mask and making it itch, but she found she didn’t care. How could she care about anything when there was nothing?

“I wish you hadn’t come out here.”

There was only one voice that could have reached her through such a storm. 

With a watery sigh, Mallory sat back on her heels but remained quiet. Thick combat boots appeared at the corner of her vision as the newcomer stood beside her. She didn’t flinch when his gloved hand rested on the crown of her head. It might have been meant as comforting, if they weren’t so close to the edge of the wall. And yet, Mallory couldn’t find it in herself to be afraid.

“It looks worse during the day,” Tye continued, his voice slightly distorted through the gas mask. “At least at night you can’t see how many of those things are out there.”

Mallory vaguely heard him through the roaring in her ears. Her mind had gone completely silent now that she was facing the truth. Nothing. There was nothing.

Tye’s gloved fingers gently stroked her hair. “You’re lucky it’s not raining right now. I can’t believe you put on the gas mask but didn’t bother with anything else.”

His tone sounded oddly affectionate. Mallory almost laughed, but didn’t have the energy. She would have been content to never speak again if it weren’t for the sudden, urging kick against her stomach. A spark flared to life inside her as her baby kicked her again.

“So it’s true.” Mallory finally looked up at Tye. “We’re the last ones.”

Their eyes locked through their masks and the dark as Mallory’s words hung in the air. She expected Tye to deny it. Or throw her off the wall, which she was now suspecting had been a fate far too many had faced. He’d been lying for so long, why stop now?

She heard Tye’s filtered breathing before his shoulders sagged. “Yes.”

Mallory frowned in mild surprise at hearing the truth. Perhaps it was only because he was out of options. But she was certain that he sounded almost relieved, like the burden of this terrible secret was now lightened somewhat.

“So the supply trucks and treatment at other compounds were all lies?”

Tye nodded once. 

“That means the rations. . .” Mallory’s voice gave out against the panic and despair now battling for dominance in her. The numbness had disappeared, replaced with an urgent fear for her friends, for Bennet, for her baby. A haze of old memories she didn’t understand muddied her thoughts of Sommerville with different people from a different compound. One that had thrived on secrets until it was too late.

Mallory shook her head. “We have to tell them.” At Tye’s silence she grabbed his hands. “We have to tell everyone what’s really going on. Please, Tye! It’s the only way!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, I do! You can’t keep hiding this!”

“I can and I will.” He sounded irritated. “Telling everyone will only make things worse.”

“Worse?” Mallory laughed incredulously. “How? How could it get worse than it already is?”

“You really think people will react calmly when they realize how scarce food is? That there’s no one coming to save us?” Tye asked with an audible scowl. “Sommerville will be thrown into chaos if people find out what’s really going on.”

“You don’t know that,” Mallory argued. “If we tell them how bad it is, we can all work together to figure out what to do.” She struggled to her feet with renewed determination. “You do what you want, but I’m telling them.”

“Mallory.” 

The warning in his tone made her shiver, but she refused to back down. Mallory took a breath and walked to the elevator. She whispered to her stomach, “No more lies.”

A gasp escaped her at the strong hands closing around her throat. Tye’s gloved fingers tightened, cutting off all her air and making her gas mask emit a ragged scraping noise. Mallory clawed at him, trying to pry him off as her lungs slowly began to burn.

“You think I’m going to sit back and let you ruin all my work?” He asked, sounding eerily calm as he dragged her into the elevator. 

The lights burned Mallory’s eyes after being in the dark for so long and only drew her attention to the spots forming in her vision. Her stomach dropped as the elevator began its descent, the automated voice and whir of the gears blurring around her as she found it harder and harder to stay conscious.

“You saw it. We’re the last ones left,” Tye’s voice cut through the haze. “And the only reason we’ve made it this far is because I’m protecting everyone from the truth.”

“Tye. . . please. . .” Mallory choked out, barely hearing her own voice as her struggling grew weaker.

“Shh. Don’t worry, Mal. I’m not going to kill you,” he whispered soothingly. “Not right now. Losing you and the baby would probably break Bennet, don’t you think? I can’t have that. Stupid as he is, I need him to help keep Sommerville safe.” Tye hummed consideringly. “Perhaps I’ll put you in a coma. Stage a little accident and keep you alive just long enough to have the baby. Or maybe,” he pulled her closer, almost in an embrace. “Maybe I’ll tell Bennet the truth. That I caught you trying to sabotage the wall but just couldn’t bring myself to finish you off. He’d believe me, we both know he would. Hell, I bet I could convince Bennet to throw you over the wall himself by the time the baby comes.”

His words rang in Mallory’s ears as her vision swam. Her hands fell to her sides and she went limp against Tye’s chest, fight fully extinguished.

“I really wish you hadn’t gone up there.” Tye’s sigh of resignation was the last thing Mallory heard before everything went black.