01.01. Cashmere, WA

Ellen White

The tough-as-lace ballet dancer frowned. "I don't want a gun, no matter what else. And I don't think anyone else should, unless we are actually bringing in a sheriff, or something; sometimes, having the option to use force encourages people untrained in it to actually use force..." she shuddered.

"Better to not have it, and be forced to play nice, than to have it, and kill someone. Chances are the animals up there are all in flight mode, while the people are scared and looking for help. Having a gun would cause problems with either situation." She chewed her inner lip, thoughtfully. "If you shoot a grizzly, it just gets mad. If you shoot a person, you have an angry mob. If either seem threatening, it seems better to just run away."

Perhaps easy to say, for the born athlete.

"I agree that we don't need any guns," Taran put in. "I certainly don't want one. But as far as a team leader goes, if Jess doesn't want the job, I'd like to nominate myself. I'm not stupid, and I make friends easily. I also wouldn't try to be some sort of hard-assed dictator or anything like that." He looked around at the group. his friends, and tried to gauge their reactions. "But honestly, we should get going sooner rather than later. Food and water need to be delivered."