The pistols

"I'll leave you guys with the pistols. With that many of you at the camp making noise, I doubt any animals are going to approach, especially in broad daylight."

Alyssa nods her head. "Alright then, gear up, boys!"

Will steps in abruptly, "Hey, Alyssa, I was thinking, since the guns are extremely important, and, well, dangerous, we should probably limit access to the ammunition. I mean, like Alex said this morning, rationing is important, and we don't want people taking more ammo than they need. Since Ben is already in charge of doling out the guns, why not leave him in charge of rationing the ammo, too?"

Alex's head perks up at the mention of his name. Will has pulled off an absolutely brilliant move. Alyssa knows she owes you for helping her a second ago, so there's no way she'll deny this request. This gives you control of the guns, and allows you to save a little bit of face with Alex by calling out Alyssa for wasting paper.

"Yeah, actually I think that's a really good idea too, Alyssa. My family went to the gun range all the time when I was younger," that's a straight up lie but Will is the only one who would ever know that about you, "so I'm pretty big on gun safety. I'd love to be able to help avoid any other wasted rations."

Alyssa raises an eyebrow at you, then looks past you where Alex is allowing a small smile to cross his face. You can tell she wants to defend herself, but is better off playing it safe.

"Sure. Whatever you think is best. From now on, you're in charge of the armory at all times."

You nod solemnly despite the fact that you're doing a touchdown celebration in your head.

"Alright, everybody, I'm going to go load the guns before we head out on our scouting mission. I'm giving each of you one cartridge to start off with. While I'm gone, I'm placing Vanessa in command of the armory," you can feel Alyssa staring at the back of your head now, but you want someone you can definitely trust in command, "If there is an attack, I give her permission to get each of you up to 2 more cartridges, or as many more as you may need if the attack is really bad. I also want Mike and Alex to use the guns, since I'm pretty sure none of you girls know how to shoot. Everybody clear?"

The group actually gives a fairly enthusiastic affirmation. It seems like everyone is a little more comfortable now that the situation is looking a bit clearer. You gambled a bit on that speech, but you feel pretty certain you won some points with Mike and Alex by giving them the guns. You weren't 100% sure of giving Alex a gun because of his conflict with Alyssa, but you feel pretty confident he isn't the murdering sort. Plus, both Mike and Alex's sister Hannah sided with Alyssa the previous day when it came to helping the pilot, so you're betting if Alex is dumb enough to try anything they'll stop him. You probably sacrificed some points with Alyssa by overstepping, but that should pale in comparison to how much you helped her out earlier.

With everything settled, you head into the armory to retrieve ammunition. You've already loaded the pistols and two of the rifles when a thought strikes you: if you and Will are going to be out in the wilderness with an angry Ryan, can you trust him not to use his gun against you? He could easily kill you both while you weren't looking and claim that some creature got you, or that you were killed accidentally in the crossfire.

You could always load it with one of the damaged cartridges. They have lost their charge and are empty, but still weigh the same as the others. Ryan would have no way of knowing his gun was empty, unless, of course, he tried to use it. If some sort of animal attack did happen, Ryan would be in serious danger, and if the attack was bad enough, two guns might not even be enough to keep you and Will safe.