Huntersville

Huntersville is a town in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia.

Background
Huntersville is the source of Appalachian super mutants, created when West Tek conducted a secret experiment dumping FEV into the local water supply. The secret, sinister experiment went horribly wrong, creating a scourge on the region that would persist as late as 2102. Huntersville was originally a small, isolated town in Appalachia, struggling to deal with dirty well water and other problems of living away from developed areas. The town was on the verge of disappearing in early 2075 when West Tek and the government offered it a rural development grant. The town gladly accepted and within three months received a brand-new water recycling system and sewer lines, even hooked into Thomas McDevitt's nearby farm. Things were looking up for Huntersville, especially when the West Tek Research Center was erected outside of town in late August. Nobody batted an eye at a major corporation suddenly establishing itself in backwoods Appalachia, not with the money flowing into Huntersville and economy booming thanks to the researchers.

The town bloomed, with a new bakery set to open in the spring of 2076. Although the West Tek employees made for poor conversation partners, clamming up or ignoring the townsfolk when they tried to befriend the city folk, Huntersville wasn't too bothered by it, as long as the money kept flowing in. Even after West Tek started paying for "testing rights". The flow of commerce suddenly halted in February 2076, after several people fell ill with a strange disease. The town suddenly became quiet as West Tek traffic stopped and more and more people started to become sick. Huntersville farmers petitioned West Tek to lend their hand and treat the sick. However, the situation steadily deteriorated, with West Tek physicians convincing the people of Huntersville that it was just a rare strain of flu, one that made people's skin change color and their hair to fall out. Thomas McDevitt, who asked West Tek for help was nowhere to be seen.

By August, the situation became dire. People started mutating, turning green and becoming deformed. West Tek doctors responded by confining the people of Huntersville to their homes, citing the contagious nature of the "flu" virus and posting guards with hazmat gear throughout the town to keep them safe and contained. Huntersville became a ghost town by November when the 12th Mountain Division was deployed to the town and ordered to enforce the quarantine. They were issued strict orders to follow full containment procedures due to the viral outbreak, citing concerns about a possible pandemic. The hazmat-equipped soldiers augmented the security while West Tek researchers continued their experiments on the population, even as the mutating humans started to turn violent. Although the soldiers found West Tek authority to be detestable, at best, they followed orders and isolated the town with roadblocks and a secure perimeter.

The soldiers were not equipped to deal with the Huntersville horror, especially Sergeant Jake Bianchi. A day into the deployment, he was tasked with leading the extraction of a Huntersvillian for West Tek. They weren't prepared to face feral mutants, one of which lunged at the sergeant with a knife, forcing Private Sanderson to shoot her on the spot. The situation deteriorated rapidly from that point as the population of the town started attacking the barricades and the soldiers. By November 7, the fighting convinced Sgt. Bianchi that something was wrong, that the town was actually a test site and the people used as guinea pigs. He vowed to get to the bottom of the mystery, which earned him a rapid court-martial, charged with gross misconduct, dereliction of duty and insubordination. He was arrested two days later and replaced with the much more pliable Sgt. Orlando Garrett, who showed respect and deference for West Tek.

West Tek's operations in the town were so secret that even the covert surveillance operatives at Sugar Grove were ordered by the Army to cease their operations and leave the town alone on October 7, 2077, leaving the analysts surprised - and curious as to what was so secret that even they weren't supposed to look at it.

Layout
Huntersville is a small, isolated town stretching alongside State Route 107. The town was isolated by roadblocks to the north and the south, cutting it off from the world. Evidence of such military presence can be seen at both ends. The northern half of the town contains residential houses. The southwestern one, with the red star, belonged to Gail Meyer and contains her terminal that can provide insight into what happened in the town. On the opposite side is a ruined trailer house, adjacent to an old mechanic's garage and military tent. The remains of Walter Griswold lay in the intersection in the center of town.

Around the back is a power armor station with a power armor spawn point. The southern half of the town was the "downtown" area, and contains the ruined hardware store and other buildings, with the generator and water tower in the east. The area is blasted quite thoroughly, first by the mutants and then the Brotherhood/Responders during the battle of Huntersville. The hardware store contains a Vault-Tec bobblehead and a magazine spawn point, with another magazine spawn in the building just east of it. There is also a military terminal by the generator area.

The first trailer northeast of the town's north gate has a chemistry station. Behind the shed northeast of the above trailer is a power armor station.

Southeast of Huntersville, down the state route and past the checkpoint with the tank, is a Brotherhood graveyard with a dead soldier wearing power armor. It is also the final resting place of Squire De Silva and Paladin Swafford.

The east and west sides of the town have active minefields. Taking the trail from the east of the town leads to a massive crater where a large building or group of buildings once stood. It is mildly radioactive and closer to the trail there are buried and/or overturned infantry fighting vehicles and an off-road vehicle.

Notable loot

 * Nina Benchley's note - Note, on a side table on the second floor of the large house closest to the IFV near the hardware store.
 * The Huntersville Incident - Holotape, on the kitchen counter of the brick house southeast of the Hardware Store and IFV.
 * Trappers key fragment - Holotape, on the body of Walter Griswold in the center of town during the mission Key to the Past.
 * Graveyard note - Both notes can be found pinned to grave markers at the Brotherhood graveyard. They can be read, but cannot be taken.
 * Cell key W9-FZ - In the frame of a bed in the two-story house with a fallen tree in the backyard. Opens a cell door in the Sugar Grove Blacksite.
 * Two potential Vault-Tec bobbleheads:
 * Inside the hardware store, above the Plumbing sign near the collapsed roof.
 * Inside Gail Meyer's home (half destroyed house with blue siding, a red roof, and a red star), on the floor of the attic. Accessible by walking up the fallen tree to the very top, then jumping across to the ledge.
 * Two potential magazines:
 * Inside the hardware store, on the curved counter to the left of the blue cash register.
 * Inside the ruined home across the street from the hardware store with the green propane tank visible next to the blown-out kitchen, under the bed hanging off the edge of the upper floor.
 * Potential power armor spawns:
 * Partial suit, behind the northeastern garage at the power armor station.
 * Partial suit, at the Brotherhood of Steel graveyard at the southeast corner of town.
 * Potential workshop plan - Inside a house trailer, on a blue barrel opposite of a chemistry station.
 * Fusion core - In a generator near the water tower in the east part of town.
 * Giddyup Buttercup toy parts - Attic ledge of the destroyed two story house in the north part of town. The house has a pink toilet and two photos of deer and a duck on the second floor.

Appearances
Huntersville appears only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes
Huntersville is a real-life census-designated place in West Virginia with a population of 73, located east of Watoga.