apocalypsehowcomm | Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

Appalachia: Into the Pines

Footage plays on the television as a new story comes on, showing a series of sweeping vistas, intercut with clips of wolves that have clearly been filmed at some local wildlife sanctuary. "As far as anyone knows it, the last wolf to ever freely roam the Allegheny Mountains was slain in West Virginia in 1897. Daniel Stoffer Hamrick saw to the beast's passing, and the woods in our part of the world have gone quieter ever since. Appalachia does not forget its history, though. It buries it beneath coal and flyash, debts and white powder and pills. And the blood of people taken before their time, by the mines, by the mountain, by things we don't have names for, just hurt. But Appalachia does not forget.

"This is Cindy Parsons with Channel 5, Wolf News." Footage cuts to a newscaster standing outside a gated apartment complex with FYRE's logo emblazoned on it. "As we know, our beloved Wolf Pen is home to one of the biggest FYRE worker housing complexes in Wyoming County. It is a monument to the history of our town, and this week, we'll be on the lookout for visitors from all over the country, coming to see the grand re-opening of the historic Bluestone Mine as a museum."

Footage cuts to a nondescript businessman, identified by the news footage as Carl Watts, CEO of FYRE. He's smiling blandly as he stands at a podium and gestures to the entrance of the mining tunnel behind him. "The Wolf Pen community has been a partner to us for decades now, and we knew it was finally time to give something back to all y’all. We'll have our soft opening on Monday with a full Rumble Down Under party in the old mines scheduled for June 15th. We'll have a live bluegrass concert and anticipate a huge influx of tourists to the area to help out our neighbors itching for a few more pocketbooks to tend to." A wink.

The footage returns to Cindy. "FYRE has stated that this new museum will provide an educational tool and tourist attraction for those wanting to learn about West Virginia, Wolf Pen, and the hard-working men and women who have made this beautiful part of our nation their home. Time will tell. Time is always telling when it comes to the promises of people who have used our land and our bodies to line their pocketbooks. They fill our blood and our lungs with black tar and-"

Cindy cuts out and is replaced by in-studio anchors. "Thank you, Cindy!" a blonde woman says, smile just a little strained. "I think we're all looking forward to seeing the big opening by FYRE on Sunday and that rocking good party next month. It should be a gneiss one! Now to Tim with the weather. Tim?"

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That's good enough for Hickey, who nods, taking George's words at face value. After all, he's got no reason to think otherwise.

"Sorry to hear that," says the man who is absolutely saying that just for pleasantries and really doesn't give a damn that Lennie's not here. "Back to the mines, d'you think they're big enough to have a party? Saw something on the news about there being a party down there next month."

Something that Hickey, the person who's last party ended completely horrible, is a little hesitant about.

He shrugs a little, the sort that says there's nothing to be done about it, because there's not, and he, for one, isn't at all sorry Lennie isn't here for a laundry list of reasons, him being dead the least of them.

"I don't know about that. The old gold mines I'm talkin' about damn sure wasn't unless you're talkin' part of two or three and don't mind being right up on top a' each other. Coal mines might be different." Not to mention the spread of years. The equipment these days is bound to be more sophisticated.

He takes a swallow of coffee. "Not sure I'd want to go anyway. Bein' that far underground for fun? Ain't my idea a' fun."

"Mmm, it's a large sign that something will go wrong," Hickey points out, with a little nod of his head. And honestly? The fact that something will inevitably go wrong is the one thing that interests him about this nonsense. Maybe he'll be safe if he hangs out on the edges?

"The question, I suppose, is what sort of 'going wrong' will happen."

He polishes off his coffee, crumples the cup, and tosses it aside. "What's the weirdest thing's happened to you here so far?" he asks. "Aside a' bring brung here in the first place?" He decides that's the best place to start with that kind of question, a gauge of how much he can tell him without snapping his ability to believe it or freaking him out.

Hickey lets out a small 'heh' of a laugh, smiling to himself like he's thinking of something he only finds funny. "When I arrived here, I was on death's doorstep," he says, like it's just something that happens to everybody. "Hand mangled, bleeding out, a mess and a half. I was mauled by a bear."

He also had his tongue cut out but he's just gonna keep that detail to himself at the moment!

"And look at me now. Walking around like nothing happened. I don't know if that's normal here but for me? 'S bloody weird."

"Christ a'mighty." He's not even trying to hide how appalling that sounds, brows dipping, mouth gaping momentarily. "Jes' gonna set aside how that would've happened on a ship." Not that he said he came from a ship. Sailors take shore leave.

"You ain't wrong. That's weird. Ain't the kind a' weird I'm talking about." Or maybe it is. Hell if he knows how they healed him of any of that. "I'm talkin' about...flowers with eyeballs, and land turning into fiery hellscapes, but only jes' for you and not the people with you. Liberry records saying you been checkin' out books for months when you ain't been here for months."

OK, that last one was more annoying than alarming, but it's big and little things is the point he wants to make, hopes he is. "So what could happen in that mine underground? More like what couldn't happen, if you ask me."

Right. That is definitely weird. Weird is a nice way of putting it. Flowers with eyeballs, hellscapes, that's things that he hasn't ever dealt with before. But he doesn't want to admit that. He doesn't want to admit that internally he's thinking 'what the fuck.'

"Whatever happens, I can handle it," Hickey says, without hesitation. "Again, I was mauled by a bear. Will those flowers with eyeballs kill me? No? Then I don't care."

"You might do awwright, Hickey." He flashes a quick grin, not exactly bright and not exactly cheerful. None of them have anything to be cheerful about here, but refusal to fear he has been told is something.

"Jes'...stay out a' the liberry. Them women at the desk's pure mean."

"I'll stay out of her way then," he says, with a grin. Because nope, he's going to the library. There's a whole new world here and he wants to learn how it works.

"Or just try and charm her to my side myself. I can be persuasive if I want to."

"All I can say to that is good luck. Lemme know how it goes for you with ol' hatchet face." Is the woman ugly? Not so much. It's something in her expression, and it never occurs to him maybe his own demeanor had anything to do with it.

"I suppose I'd better get myself moving. Got a few more leads to check out today with a couple a' soup kitchens and one a' the local thrifts." He climbs nimbly to his feet and starts for the door.

"You run into anything you want explained more on the downlow, come find me. I ain't gonna treat you like an idiot for not knowing nothing you ain't never seen before. Good luck out there. Hopefully with all of us feet on the ground, we'll drum up whatever trouble's stirring before it swallows the whole town." He touches his hat brim once, steps back inside, and gets down to work.

Hickey gives George a nod. He knows he needs to freshen up a bit before pretending to be an OSHA inspector. He also needs to look up what the hell OSHA means.

Still, the fact that he's got someone who won't give him shit for not knowing things that everyone else knows is...reassuring. Nice, in it's own way. He gives George a little nod before admitting, "Hopefully I'll get my head in gear soon enough. But thanks."

And he lingers for a bit, drinking some more of his coffee, as George heads out.

Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

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