- "I came to the conclusion that mere survival isn't enough. I want to be part of something, I want to help make life better, and if that means walking a few hundred miles, then so be it."
- ―Alvin Locke explaining why he wants to go to Haven.[src]
Alvin Locke was a Colorado businessman who hired Joseph Capelli as a runner to escort him to Haven, Oklahoma.
Biography[]
Prior to the Chimeran War (in which Locke referred to as "the plague"), Locke joined the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman after high school.[1] After inheriting some money, Locke gone into business as a car dealer. Then, after the Chimera overran the United Kingdom, Locke was perceptively aware of the Chimeran War in which he took the initiative of moving to a cabin in the mountains near Glenwood Spring and purchasing large quantities of supplies to last him for ten years.[1] After the United States fell to the Chimera, Locke was satisfied to live in hiding until, after receiving a couple of runner-delivered letters from his sister Terri, he resolved to join her in the town of Haven. Locke soon found a runner, Joseph Capelli, to escort him to Haven.[1]
Locke met Capelli at Deep Home on September 23, 1953.[1] After Locke explained his offer to Capelli, the runner accepted. Deep Home was soon attacked by the Chimera in which the men managed to escape. They then travel through U.S. Route 40 to try and head through Kansas to Oklahoma. However, their trip almost ended two days in when a group of bandits had tracked them down with the intent of murdering the pair and stealing Locke's stash of 1920 gold coins, which he had brought to pay Capelli for his services. Locke and Capelli killed the bandits before they were pursued by a Chimeran Death Squad, who were chasing after the bandits.[1]
The two escaped the Chimera in which Locke jump start a car and they sped sped off to an area east of Goodland, Kansas. There, the pair resuscitated salt merchant Peter Sowers and accompanied him to his rendezvous in Colby after being promised to be paid with food.[1] Upon arriving at Colby, they encountered the bandits who robbed Sowers. Locke convinced Capelli to help Sowers in which they killed the bandits. Sowers rewarded Locke and Capelli three of his horses; only needing two horses, Locke sold the third to Patrick Murphy, who offered Locke and Capelli to ride with his group of wranglers to Hoxie.[1]
While setting up camp in an abandoned farmhouse, Capelli noticed one of the Wranglers searching through Locke's items. After Capelli informed Locke of what he saw, they planned to part company with the pack train as soon as possible. Soon after making their decision, the group was attacked by Grims, who inhabited the farmhouse's basement. Locke fought for his life with a Grim in which it bite into his shoulder before he buried his knife into the Chimera's skull. Only Locke and Capelli survived the night. Cappelli quickly disinfected Locke's wound before the pair set off to find another hideout.[1]
Locke and Capelli soon took shelter in an old storm shelter near Hays.[1] Due to infection caused by the Grim's bite, Locke's health badly deteriorated in which he fell semi-conscious and eventually succumbed to his wounds, passing away three days after the attack on October 9, 1953. Unable to dig a grave, Capelli turned the storm shelter, Locke's final resting place, into a shrine and after writing an eulogy for Locke on the wall before leaving his fallen companion.[1]
- "HERE LIES ALVIN LOCKE. A GOOD MAN, FORCED TO LIVE IN BAD TIMES, WHO WAS ON HIS WAY TO DO GOOD THINGS WHEN THE CHIMERA KILLED HIM."
- ―Joseph Capelli's eulogy for Alvin Locke[src]
After Locke's death, Capelli decided to carry out Locke's wishes and continued onto Haven in order to give Terri the remnants of his sack of gold coins.[1] Capelli would later decide to settle in Haven, something he had not intended to do. Terri would later befriend Capelli.
Trivia[]
- Locke uses a .30-30 Winchester Rifle.
- Locke drives a 1949 Nash Airflyte. Although he admits the Nash Airflyte's interiors are roomy, he prefers Ford cars. He later spent an evening talking with Murphy's wranglers about the finer points of Ford flathead engines.