Supplies, and a message

It was a long night. Between feeding the fire, worrying about men in suits, and your awareness that Lucy was unsatisfied by your postponing explanation until morning. In the end, you got enough sleep to survive, little more.

Lucy took advantage of your clearly awake state when the sun arose, sending golden rays across the clearing, creating a beautiful contrast in the reflection of the calm lake water. It gave a silver lining to the otherwise depressive mood that clung to you like dew, though only just a lining.

"Well, you went out to get firewood and came back with a briefcase and a gun...you have more than a little talking to do." With that she crossed her legs and folded her arms, eyebrow raised. Looks like you were in for a talking-to.

You described the events as truthfully as you could, detailing the man in the suit and his handing over the gun and the suitcase after getting you away from the fire.

She paused a moment to take it all in, then asked, "Why did he pull you away if all he wanted to do was give you a suitcase and a gun?"

You shrugged. "I don't know, your guess is as good as mine there. Maybe I didn't earn his respect to warrent hearing anything else?"

"Maybe you were supposed to strangle him...I don't know, prove your kung fu skills or something." She said, tossing a stone into the lake with a sigh. "What do they want with us John?"

You shook your head, you were just as puzzled as her. "I don't know, but I've got a pretty good idea how we might find out..." And with that you picked up the suitcase, leather with metallic latches, and pushed it towards her.

"You want me to open your present by Mr. FBI?" She asked with a hint of uncertainty.

"Well, you seemed curious. Besides, this way I have an excuse to keep the gun."

She rolled her eyes and popped the latches open, pausing before opening it. "I swear to God John if you just handed me a bomb..." And then she opened the case, revealing a series of items.

Firstly, one bullet with a note wrapped around it. Lucy grabbed it and unwound the note, handing you the bullet. She read it, "To keep things interesting. - a stone for two birds." and shook her head with a slight smile and said, half to herself, "who're the birds, we or them?"

You rolled the bullet around your fingers as you answered, "If they'll respect the expression then there'll be two of them...could be an intentional double-meaning." And dropped it into the cylinder, loading the revolver.

"There's more.." she said, and pulled out a map. It had the beach you'd crashed on, the lake, a nearby mountain and a few X's drawn in a few locations. She flipped it over and written on the back was the explanation they were looking for: "Hello! To our dear prey, we give you fair warning of our arrival, and a bullet to 'keep things interesting'. We are hunters, wealthy enough to afford keeping a place like this secret, but brave enough to give you fair warning! Normally we have to bring people here, but you two crashed directly into our island, a perfect opportunity! Normally we also hunt one person at a time to add to the psychological...effects, but you two are just too cute together! Besides, we already shot one person for going beyond that capacity, it seems this game's meant to include two! Ah, and my condolences for your friend-.."

She stopped reading, her voice wavering as she read the words. "Here, you read it." She said, a tear running down her cheek as she handed you the map and looked down to her feet. You resumed where she left off, feeling bad but not sure what else to do. "My condolences for your friend. Now, onto more pressing matters; the 3 X's on the map lead to supply boxes, all containing a variety of useful things from ammunition to food and water to flashlights and fire starters. The only catch being that we'll begin hunting you in two days, and being skilled as we are we'll be able to track you if you move too quick, especially around those areas. Now, just to be fair, if you do manage to survive and kill one of us, we'll both be wearing a keypad number which will grant you access to a base to the north of that map. You should be able to find it, but it's well guarded and even with a key you'll have to be careful. From there you might make a phone call or something else to try to get help. There are possible ways to get out of this alive, but you'll have to get crafty if you want any chance at this. This is, after all, the most dangerous game. Good luck! And enjoy your two days of freedom!"

...

"Well that really killed the mood, didn't it?" You stated sourly.

Lucy either sobbed or chuckled a reply, you couldn't tell which. "It was already dead."

You nodded, "Fair point. I'm..sorry about your friend."

"It's alright, I barely knew her. It's just... ridiculous how psychopathic these people are. How could they do this to us? To anyone?" She tossed another rock into the lake.

"I don't know."

"I'm scared John, scared I'll die alone and these people will continue. We can't let that happen..."

You held her hand with your own, giving her the gun and wrapping your hand around her's so you both held it. "We won't."