Jason had thought he'd been dreaming. He'd never seen anything like it. He rubbed his eyes to make sure what he had seen was natural. Was this real? As he shown his flashlight to the middle, there was a huge supply of guns. From automatic rifles to pistols, this supply closet, as it seemed to be, was filled with ammunition and weapons. This must have been a security storage held by the people that worked here. Lamplight Caverns was located in a rather run down area of D.C. Maybe the people before Little Lamplight had problems with crime. Who cares, all that Jason knew was that Little Lamplight now had protection from any group that would try and break in.

"Isn't it something?" asked Charlie with a rather blood-hungry sound to his voice.

"It is something… now no adult will ever mess with us!" Jason said excitedly.

"What do we do with all these guns?"

"I will bring this rifle to my quarters. I'll only use it for special purposes, though. We don't have to worry. Charlie, I will ask something of you."

"What's that?"

"Make sure NO one comes here. No one can go into that room."

"Well, when they see you with a gun, how will you say you got it?"

"I'll tell them about the room… but they cannot enter. This is for the safety of our people."

"Okay… no one goes in."

"No one… not even you."

"But I was the one who discovered it."

"Charlie, no one goes in. This is for the safety…"

"…of our people. I got it. I just think that I should be allowed…" Jason shot him a stern look. "Okay, no going in for me."

Jason brought the gun back to where he slept every night. He placed it carefully by a wall. It blended in well with the darkness of the cave. You could only see the rifle when standing directly by it. Jason was rather excited that he found a gun supply. He was a huge gun enthusiast. Being in the boy scouts for most of his young life, he was able to shoot BB guns and train his aim. He had great aim and could shoot pretty much anything he targeted. He first shot a real gun the summer before. He was nine and his father felt it was time his son worked on hunting. His father, being a man from the South, loved hunting. His plan was to take Jason hunting on vacations and teach him the ways of living off the land. Jason was so enthralled by all of it and wanted to always learn more. That was the boy scout in him, of course.

Jason suddenly had a burning desire to see what other guns were in the supply closet. He went to explore. Charlie was standing at the front of the space. "Just guarding like you wanted," he said.

"Good Charlie… keep guarding."

Jason swiftly went in. He took his flashlight and examined some of the guns. An assault rifle quickly caught his eye. He had never seen one in person. He always would see them on the action movies he'd watch. He thought they were so cool and always wanted one. He felt the gun. It felt even better than he imagined the touch of it would. He smiled and went onto the next one. The next one was a combat shotgun. They must have had major trouble with crime if they have all these guns, he thought. It was beautiful. This shotgun was much like one his uncle in Colorado had. The look of the gun brought back memories of his uncle. This made him a little sad, missing his family more than imaginable. After shaking off his thoughts, he continued through the collection. He saw a 10mm pistol. He figured he'd need a gun he could carry on him, so he took the pistol. He grabbed the holster, attached it to his belt, and went through the next part of the gun collection.

As minutes passed, he found that this gun collection was so extravagant. There had to be more than crime that led Lamplight to buying all these guns. What could it be? What was the purpose?

"Man, look at all these guns!" exclaimed a voice.

Jason looked back to see Charlie. "Charlie… I told you not to come in here."

"I just wanted to check out the guns."

"Look, someone could get hurt. Just stay out."

"Why do you get to do all the fun things?"

"Because I'm the mayor… believe me, it's not all fun."

"It is! You get to do whatever you want and it isn't fair. We just want to have some sort of life around here and you hog it up with your rules."

"I'M TRYING TO KEEP PEOPLE SAFE!"

His voice echoed, shaking the walls of the supply closet from the vibration. Something in the distance of the closet fell. When he flashed his light at what it was, he could see it was a shovel. "What do you think that's for?" asked Charlie.

"I don't know."

"Maybe we can bury someone's dead body with it."

"Well, Charlie, no one is dead. Let's hope no one dies at all."

"Yeah, let's hope."

…

Jason went back to his quarters after a day of examining guns. He held on to two: the 10 mm and hunting rifle. When the kids asked about the guns, he told them everything that happened. He was keeping his honesty card as mayor and playing it every chance he could get. By the end of the day, he was settling down. He was lying down and began to rest his head. He thought of everything that had happened since he had gotten to this cave. He thought of becoming mayor, finding guns, hating adults… missing adults. He missed everyone, even his uncle in Colorado. Even his parents. There were so many people he wished he could just see. There was so much life he wished he could be living right now. There was so much…

Bang!

Jason jumped. He got to his feet and raced to the supply closet. He knew Charlie was up to something. He had set off a gun. When he had reached the closet, he saw Charlie with a pistol in hand. "Charlie… what did I tell you about coming in here!"

"I just wanted to… I'm so sorry…"

"Charlie… give me that!"

"Look, I am really sorry…"

"Are you stupid? Do you not listen to orders? DON'T EVER COME IN HERE!" Jason was furious.

"Please forgive me… I was just testing the gun…"

"NO! No Charlie… no testing anything. I can't believe you actually shot that. Are you an idiot? Yes… yes you are. I saw your grades at school. How could I forget? Get your head out of your ass and stop being dumb! Just stop fucking everything up!"

Jason walked away to the sound of Charlie apologizing over and over. Jason was so fed up with Charlie and couldn't stand to even be around him. Maybe if he'd go to bed, he'd forget the whole thing with Charlie ever happened. It would be better in the morning.

…

Jason felt great. He woke up, stretched his arms out, and drew a large smile upon his face. Every "Good morning, how are you?" came from Jason and he felt on top of the world for some reason. He made his rounds around the cave, checking on everyone and seeing how everyone was doing. After his final checkup, he went to the supply closet to check on the ammunition stash. When he got to the opening of the door, he was surprised to see that Charlie was not there guarding it. Charlie was always there. In fact, he hadn't seen Charlie when he made his rounds. He just figured he'd be guarding the supply closet. Where was Charlie? They'd lost him again, he feared. He then convinced himself that Charlie was just off at some other part of the cave and would soon return.

He stepped into the room. There was so much ammunition. All the bullets, shells, and grenades could last someone years, he thought. He looked up at the guns. All were in place. All were nice and clean, soft to the touch in his mind, and simply wonderful. As he started to walk off, he quickly noticed that the gun Charlie had the night before, the small pistol, was gone. "No… no, no, no! This is not good!"

"Have you seen Charlie? Have you seen him?" Jason raced around the city asking the kids if they'd seen Charlie. "Charlie! Charlie!" No one knew where he was. This was no good. Charlie was once again gone, alone in a cave with a pistol, and watching down on a city that had very little protection with unarmed citizens.

…

Charlie sat at the top of the caves hidden. No one could see him. He simply looked down at them. "So I'm the screw up? He'll see… I can screw up all of his plans as mayor…"