ffmpeg -i in.avi -vf "hflip" out.avi

The armory is tempting due to the knee-jerk logic that we might find automatic rifles, grenades or rocket launchers -- and for the fact that it's closer to the church -- but a bit of research reveals some disappointing things about real-life National Guard armories:

* the guns are kept in vaults, behind heavy steel doors with a small number of tightly controlled keys; opening the doors in even ideal circumstances is a time-consuming task
* the guns are usually stored in various states of disassembly
* ammunition, if it is present, is stored separately from the guns; many of the people who know where the guns are have no idea where the ammo is
* Note the "if it is present" above. Most National Guard armories do not store ammo onsite. It is kept at a state armory and requisitioned by local armories as needed, immediately before training exercises. It wasn't stated what kind of armory this is, but if it is the state kind, it will be a full-blown military base.
* if working guns are present at this armory, it will be the place where we are most likely to run into survivors; highly trained, shoot-first-ask-questions-later survivors

Possibilities worth considering are that we might find supplies such as MREs, although like ammo, these are generally not stockpiled until prior to a training exercise. There's also a chance that there might be unsecured small arms from guards, or by some miracle they were conducting a live-fire exercise at the time of the disaster and were killed off, leaving the guns behind. Many armories have a tank or two sitting around, but I don't think it would be practical for our situation nor would it be likely to be armed.

The gun store is a relatively soft target with the potential of arming everyone to the teeth, but as was pointed out before: businesses that revolve around selling guns are almost always fortified. We are almost certain to run into steel bars. If the owner is still around, the people who own these places are usually Second Amendment types with fewer qualms about shooting people. The last time we attempted to get into a gun shop we ran into a barrier and, as Friday later revealed, would have died if we hadn't given up. Most importantly, it's next to a nest. Bad Things happen when we get near nests.

The police station has good possibilities. Cops carry small arms on their person at all times and -- much like Grand Theft Auto -- we've found shotguns in their cars. Uninfected police are much more likely to be benevolent than soldiers or survivalists. A drawback is that officers (living or dead) will not be carrying significant amounts of ammo unless they've established some kind of barricade, and if they're alive, it's dubious whether they'd be amicable if we marched in, demanded guns and promptly left.

I'm tentatively in favor of going directly to the church. The most obvious reason for getting guns before going to the church are along the lines of "they might be under attack and we will need to save them". However, whatever way we go about arming ourselves will consume time. Unless game logic is in effect and the bad guys wait until we show up to attack, the church could be overrun while we're off preparing for the church to be overrun. As has happened rather often, we could become separated from our transportation and be stuck running around buildings, which will also eat up time. The largest concern is that by going to the church we will cause it to come under attack.

At this point, being heavily armed is almost as dangerous as not being armed. Right now we are very close to flipping out and killing someone important with little notice. We are more likely to succeed if we have a gun when this happens. Imagine Benny's glee were we to be standing in front of the church with a bazooka. On second thought the Red doesn't seem interested in using weapons.

An important consideration is David's motivations. On one hand he is passively hostile towards us, so he might attack us and it might be necessary to have weapons to fight him. On the other hand, he seems reluctant to kill us outright; he chose to run away with Nicole rather than confront us. Carrying weapons might be a make-or-break situation for how he reacts. However, I suspect that he will be peaceful in either case. The Purple seems different from Red and Blue; it speaks with an inquisitive tone, like an observer or scientist. It wants us to reunite with Nicole so it can study us. Regardless of whether it's possessing David like the worms are possessing us or he is the Purple, I doubt that it would let him kill us unprovoked.