Thawed

December 9th, 2077

9:45 AM

Everett Memorial Hospital

Wellington, Ohio

Besides the strange encounter from last night, Luke had a pretty decent night's sleep. He was surprised to see that he had actually slept for almost nine hours, something that never happened before when walkers were on his tail. It was nice to be able to sleep and really feel refreshed.

Alvin had snuck in some eggs and bacon that his wife, Aiko, had cooked for breakfast. Definitely better than eating that disgusting hospital food they served. He munched on his bacon happily while Alvin simply stared at him with a blank expression. That was a little unsettling for him, but it must have been fascinating that a man had actually come out of being frozen and was perfectly normal.

"You want some?" Luke offered a piece of that porky goodness over to the elder and smiled. "Y'know you want some of this."

"I'm good," Alvin brushed him off, "I'm good, thank you." His expression still remained blank and had a hint of sadness to it. Luke sighed and continued to dig into his food.

After a good half hour of silence, Alvin seemed to finally be unable to contain his emotions. He leaned back in his chair and exhaled, his hand covered his mouth as he stared at nothing. "My friend Harold was shot to death last night."

Luke stopped chewing and frowned. It was almost hard to believe that with how normal the world had become people were still murdered in cold blood. "I'm sorry Alvin," he sadly said. "I hope they find whoever did it and-"

"I know who it was." It was unnatural to hear such a dark, threatening tone come out of a man as sweet as Alvin, but when it did, it made you jump. Luke couldn't help but be startled when Alvin gave him a look of pure hatred, which was obviously not meant for Luke himself. No, it was meant for someone else; the person who had caused his friend's tragic demise. "It was Him."

"Who?"

"The less you know about Him, Luke, the safer you are. Please, listen to me when I tell you this;he will kill anyone who gets in his way. He's their number one hit man and no one who has encountered Him has come out alive. "

"I'm confused…"

"Good," Alvin sighed. "You're still unaffected from their horrors, but I don't know how long I can keep you safe. You're especially a target…"

The hospital doors open and Luke glares at the visitors, it just had to be the two ass wipes from before, James and Janice. James, who was currently sporting a black eye and broken nose, gives Luke a sneer back. He couldn't help but remind Luke of Kenny or Troy with his attitude and temper. Janice was more reserved and seemed to awkwardly glance around the room. Alvin stared at the three and even he seemed to be uncomfortable with amount of tension in the air.

"Sir," Janice finally began after a few minutes. "We just got a call from Commissioner Victor about some blood samples found near the kitchen counter."

"What did he say?"

"Well," the medic continued, " it's definitely hid blood. Victor thinks that Harold and Him got into a struggle before he finally got hisgun out."

Alvin closed his eyes in concentration and mumbled something unintelligible. "Damn, could they get some identification on whohe is?" he finally said softly. Luke, who continued to eat his now very cold eggs, began to eavesdrop. They all were hiding something from him and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Nothing," James said with a frown. "There's nobody in this city who matches up to this sonuvabitch."

"Surely there's somebody," Alvin replied. "This is a city of nearly a million people, James. There has to be a face behind that mask…"

Mask? Flashbacks of what had occurred last night filled Luke's mind and he squirmed at the thought of them. Did he actually encounter Him? Maybe he should tell them… Yeah, if that means he's a target now than he should tell them. "Uh…"

James scoffed at him and smirked. "Looks like Luke here wants to chime in here. Kid, leave this to government agents and the police who actually know what they're doing-"

"Does he wear a gas mask?"

The room got so quiet at that moment that you could hear a pin drop, all eyes were wide and on Luke. Even James seemed to be taken aback at Luke's sudden response. "How do you know that?" The older man finally uttered in shock.

"I saw somebody running on the ledge last night before I fell asleep." Luke pointed at said window ledge and glared at James. "It looked like they were trying to make a quick escape from something."

"What time?" Alvin bolted up and Janice quickly pulled a notepad out of her pocket. She began to quickly jot notes down. "Son, this is important. Tell me everything that you saw!"

"Around midnight I heard sirens and then I saw him going by…" Luke started slowly so Janice could catch up. "It was hard to see, but I know he was definitely wearing a gas mask."

"What else?"

"A hood and maybe leather? I don't know it was too dark to get anything out…"

"Did he see you?" Janice asked as she continued to write. "Did he notice you at all?"

Luke hesitated for a second, as their gazes got more intense. He didn't want to be involved in this at all, but if this information would help bring closure, then he really had no choice. "Yes."

The three others looked at each other like they had seen a ghost, but in reality Luke was pretty sure he had. Alvin fell back in his chair; he paled a bit and put his hand to his mouth. "Oh god," he would mutter every few seconds. "Oh god, son…"

"What did he do?" James demanded as he got close to Luke's face. "What did he do when saw you?!"

"Back off," Luke pushed him away. "He didn't do anything really… I think he was just as shocked to see me as I was to see him."

Janice walked over to the window and gasped. "James, have a look at this!" She cried and went to grab a camera from her bag. James rushed over and scowled when he saw the ledge.

"Blood…"

A/N: Oh no, bros! It's bad news bears for our crew! Poor Harold, RIP bruh. Also, James is the Gary Oak to Luke's Ash Ketchum. Also, Him seems to be a bad butt, but who is he?! Well, you need to continue to find out because it's a long story.