Option C: Tell Alyssa and possibly Vanessa the truth, but lie to the rest

"I think Option C is our best bet, at least to start. Alyssa is sort of the leader right now, so she can decide if she thinks the group as a whole needs to know."

"Alright, man, I hope you're right."

"Me too."

The two of you walk the last hundred yards to the camp. It is now fully dark, and your companions are huddled around a campfire. It's obvious that a lot of work was done while you were gone, but conversations about that will have to wait. As you approach, your footfalls cause a rustling in the grass, and you curse under your breath, realizing the danger you've put yourself in. For the second time today, a member of your own group is pointing a gun at your best friend. Or maybe it's pointed at you. It's a bit hard to tell at this point.

"Guys? Is that you? Fucking say something or I'm shooting at the next sound I hear!"

They've all been staring at a campfire, and evidently have no night vision at the moment, because Alex stares blankly past Will and you into the night despite the fact that you're a mere ten yards away.

"It's Group 3, don't shoot!" you call forward, hoping that the sudden sound doesn't startle Alex into shooting you. Evidently it doesn't because he immediately heaves a sigh of relief, lowering the gun. "You guys gave me a fucking heart attack! Say something next time before you sneak up on us like that! I could have killed you!"

"Sorry, man," Will replies, "we didn't even think about it until you jumped. We've been walking in the dark for a while so we forgot you guys wouldn't be able to see us coming."

The group greets you with cheers and welcomes, evidently happy to see you back safe. Vanessa is the only one that holds back. She's noticed that there are only two of you. It hasn't dawned on the others quite yet. She looks at you questioningly, and you aren't sure how to return her gaze. Unsatisfied with your response, she asks the question you've been dreading, "There were three of you when you left at lunch time. Where is Ryan?"

The rest of the group sobers up immediately as they collectively realize their oversight.

"He - uhh - he didn't make it." you say, hoping that is enough. It obviously isn't.

"What do you mean he didn't make it?! What happened?! Is he lost somewhere? Did he - is he ok?!" You didn't expect this big of a reaction from Hannah. You didn't think she cared much for Ryan, but then again, maybe she reacts this way to every ****. You search for the words, but your throat closes up. Thankfully, Will comes to your aide.

"There was a creature, in the woods to the west. We didn't - we didn't see it at first," his performance is actually pretty convincing, which is surprising given the fact that you were the one that acted growing up, "but apparently it saw us. I don't know if we passed too close to it's den, or if it had been stalking us, but it came out of nowhere and grabbed Ryan before we could do anything. Pulled him right up into the fucking trees and then fucking took off. We didn't even have time to fire a shot. The damn rifles were too cumbersome. If we'd have brought pistols we might have had time to shoot it, but the rifles took too long to aim. I didn't even get that great of a look at it. Just that it was kind of a shimmery greenish gold. I thought it was fur, but Ben said he thought it looked like scales. The only thing I know for sure is it had fucking massive claws and made a noise I can't even describe."

Mike spoke up next, "Are you sure he's gone? Like, is there any way he could have gotten away?"

"I mean, nothing is impossible, but I seriously doubt it. Even if he did, those claws probably tore him to shreds. Ben and I are going back tomorrow morning to look for any signs of him, but by that point, if he is alive, he'll probably have bled out."

The rest of the group utters a string of obscenities, curses, and lamentations. This is the first member of your group to be lost, and even though Ryan wasn't close to any of your companions, everyone feels the loss. You finally speak up.

"We didn't finish the entire sweep today because of - because of the thing that happened with Ryan. We did get a chance to look at some of the wildlife around here, though, and I'm pretty sure we won't have to worry about attacks in the night. Not for a while, at least. There are some predators out to the east, but they stick to the tall grass. The rest of the field is pretty much just grazing animals. If you want, I'll take everybody's weapons and check them back into the armory for safe keeping. Then, Alyssa, I thought it would be a good idea for Will and I to debrief you on some of the security threats we saw in the countryside."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Meet me in the command center."

"I'll come too. I'm not really tired right now, and given what happened to Ryan, I think the more of us know about security threats, the better." Classic Alex, always determined to find an opportunity to install himself in the decision-making process. Alyssa is clearly looking for an out, when some quick thinking on Will's part saves the day yet again.

"Actually, Alex, I wanted to meet you in the armory and get your report on how things went here today. I know you were on guard duty a lot of the time, and you know a lot about what we're lacking in security here. Ben and I thought that you'd be the perfect person to coordinate the defense of the homestead, so to speak, while we focus on mapping the surrounding area. We need somebody in charge of security here and you seem to be the most obvious choice."

Alex is on the fence, as is Alyssa. She shoots you a questioning look, and you give her a look that says "please go along with this". She apparently doesn't catch your meaning, because instead she says, "I don't think you really have any business giving Alex responsibilities. That's the second time today you've done that and it undermines my authority! We need to have a long talk about this in the command center!" You sigh internally, dreading this conversation. Alex, however, sees Alyssa's disapproval as evidence that debriefing with Will is the right move. He eagerly heads with Will to the armory along with the entire cache of weapons. You head with Alyssa into the "command center", which is a room filled with chairs and a table, as well as what appears to be some salvaged equipment from the ship. You think this used to be the dining quarters for the bridge personnel, and you wonder how long they spent setting this up today. It definitely wasn't set up yesterday.

Alyssa closes and locks the door behind you, and you speak up, "Listen, Alyssa, I know what that looked like, but Will and I aren't - "

"I know. I just made a fuss because I knew it would get Alex to leave us alone. I sacrificed some serious ground to get us here alone because I don't think you're here to brief me on wildlife. This had better be important, Ben."

"It is."

"Then spill it."

"What I'm about to say cannot leave this room, not until we've had time to discuss options in detail."

"I'm not promising that. I'm in command now. Sort of. Anyway I need to act like a commander and that means making my own decisions about who gets to know pertinent information." This wasn't going to be easy.

"Fair enough. I hope I earned your trust by backing you this morning. What I'm about to tell you is extremely sensitive, and I have no proof, other than Will's testimony, which, as you know, most people won't find reliable, since we knew each other before the Odyssey."

Alyssa raises an eyebrow, "You haven't given me any reason to distrust you yet. I can't promise you that won't change, but go on."

You take a deep breath. Here it goes.

"Ryan isn't dead. Or at least he isn't to the best of my knowledge." You were expecting a reaction from Alyssa, but instead she just looks at you expectantly. Clearly she knows there is more to the story than this. "When we found the weapons in the armory this morning, Ryan didn't want to tell anyone. Instead, he told us we should stash them in our tents and not tell anybody. He said the group was flying headfirst into a power struggle that could get ugly, and if we were the only ones with guns, we could come out on top when the shit hit the fan."

"And obviously you and Will didn't go for that idea, which I'm assuming Ryan didn't like."

"No. We didn't tell anybody at the time because it would have been his word against ours, not to mention it might give other people the same genius idea he had."

"And Will suggesting I place you in charge of the armory was so you could make sure you and Will had the rifles and Ryan would be stuck with a pistol."

"Exactly."

"Smart move. You plan that?"

"No. That was all Will. He improvised it, too."

"Impressive. He sounds like a useful person to have on your team."

"He is."

"Anyway, you still haven't gotten to the part where Ryan inexplicably disappears."

"Well, we started off in the eastern fields, and then walked north and made a circle, sticking pretty close to the river. We got to the forest to the west around 5 in the afternoon and decided to stop near this beautiful little pool to rest and eat, since we'd been going non-stop for about 5 hours at that point. I got up to take a piss, and as I'm finishing up I notice it's eerily quiet, so I sneak back to the pool with my gun at the ready, and I see Ryan with his gun to Will's head."

"So you shot him before he could shoot Will? Wait, no, you said neither of you fired a shot. You wouldn't lie about something that can be easily verified. How did you get him to let Will go?"

"I - Well - I, uhhh..."

"Spit it out."

"I never loaded his gun."

Alyssa looks at you, stunned for the first time tonight. "If there had actually been an attack of any sort he could have been killed."

"I know."

"And you risked that for what? A hunch?"

"It was a hunch with some pretty damning evidence."

"Still, you had no way of knowing he'd try something."

"I know, but he did. And if I had loaded that pistol Will would be dead, and I might be too."

Alyssa is silent. You can tell she is trying to decide if she believes you. You decide to continue with the story.

"After he tried to pull the trigger and realized it was empty, I came out from behind a tree with my gun pointed at him. Will roughed him up a bit, mainly because he was pissed Ryan had tried to kill him. Will wanted to bring him back here and tell everyone what happened and let you dole out a punishment, but - "

"It would have looked like you were the ones that attacked him. All the evidence would have pointed to you two trying to hold the weapons hostage instead of the other way around. And most likely no one would have believed you over him, especially since you sent him out there with an unloaded gun."

"Exactly."

"So you couldn't bring him back, but you didn't kill him?"

"No."

"Why? I mean, if what you're saying is true, that's basically self-defense, not ****."

"We didn't want to execute him the same way he tried to do us. And, I don't know, with so few people left on this planet, it just seemed like a waste to kill one."

"So what did you do exactly?"

"We exiled him."

"I beg your pardon?"

"We exiled him from the camp. We told him he wasn't welcome and that we'd let everyone know what he did. And if he ever tried to come back, we'd shoot him on sight."

"And he bought that? I mean, no offense, but if you weren't gonna kill him right there, why should he think you'd kill him later?"

"Ryan said the same thing. Will may or may not have threatened to shoot him in the kneecap and let him crawl home in the dark where the grass cats could get him."

"Grass cats?"

"Yeah, we saw some sort of cat-like predator in the taller grass far to the east. Didn't get a good look at it, but it was big enough and scary enough to scare the shit out of us. Definitely could kill a person if you weren't careful."

"Shit."

"Yeah, that was the scariest thing we saw out there."

"So I take it the creature Will talked about was made up?"

"One hundred percent."

Alyssa is quiet for a while. Finally, she speaks up. "For what it's worth, I'm choosing to believe you. I don't know for sure if that's a good call, but it's the call I'm making. For now, don't tell anyone else about this, especially not Alex. And in return for my faith in you, I expect you to support me 100% for leader. No more side comments meant to placate Alex. I understand you did what you had to do to make sure you could protect yourself against Ryan, but that time is over now. You're either with me, or I don't have a reason to trust you, understand?"

"Loud and clear."