“Chh, chh, chh” Edward dawdled his finger in a condescending manner.

“You know you can’t shoot her, right?” The portly man had his hand locked on the trigger, inches away from firing, but he didn’t dare move an inch further. His intimidation had not bore any fruit. It was almost as if the Edward’s words had caught him in limbo. Edward slowly pulled out a rectangular plastic card that had two letters embossed in its bluish hue- “Item Card”

“Funny thing isn’t it? That we would be fighting over something as trivial as this four by four petroleum sourced molded resin” The tribal leader wavered his gun over at Edward’s propinquity. And held the handle with a firm grip. “I want you, to hand over those cards right now!”

“And if we say no?” mocked the detective in a provocative voice.

“I’ll shoot you!” This opened Edward to a hearty laugh, one that even Isabelle had never heard before. Once Edward concluded, he continued his pompous speech.

“I’m sure you know this but, only those with whom the card has been entrusted will remember the four-number code that allows its redemption. In short, if you kill us you won’t be able to redeem these item cards.”

Edward recited the 4 number code in his mind, the only thing that he could remember at the moment

‘6-9-0-5…’

Isabelle snapped back to reality through Edward’s assurance. She too recalled remembering an odd combination of numbers when she first woke up in the factory.

“You… you haven’t gotten to the town yet, so how do you know—”

Isabelle interrupted the man’s stupor with a question of her own

“But what are these item cards in the first place…?”

Edward snickered to a response

“At this point it might just be conjecture but I can let you in on the details” Isabelle perked her ears for an explanation.

“It must have struck you unearthly as to how these ‘tribal’ men were able to acquire a gun in such a remote and desolate location such as an island, in a world they know nothing about. The only answer that comes to mind is explained by these mysterious pieces of cards that we possess. As its name suggests, at some point you are allowed to redeem these personal cards for an item of your choice. Of course, it must have its limitations too, but at this point we can assume you can trade in these cards for anything that you deem worthy of your survival. As in this case—” Edward pointed straight rotund man. “It was this magnum revolver. However…” He held the card in the glare of the sun to give it a closer inspection. “We can predict that these are one time use only. Hence the reason why fat man over here is trying to pillage ours. The creators of this game, such as the voice behind that radio, knew this could lead to pandemonium, people would immediately begin killing others at the idea of the Item Cards, and hence devised a mechanism by which only those who naturally possess the card will remember its redemption code. The fact that the game creators can go so far as to even alter our past memories, implanting new ones should be a piece of cake”

Edward carefully scanned his opposition.

“There are ten people in this group; that would amount to eight item cards left if no one else has used their own”

“Wait why eight? Doesn’t the gun count as only one?”

“My ignorant companion, you fail to understand the details. You can only trade in the Item Card for one object of interest. The gun does indeed count as one item card, but what about the bullets? Someone else must have used their item card as a corollary to the gun exchanged by the leader” He shifted his view back to the armed man. “Isn’t that right ‘Mr. Leader’?”

The paunchy man fretted at the man’s attention for details. He lowered the gun almost in complete assonance. The black-haired man found this as an opportune time to drop in a suggestion. He smiled in an a most devilish way, so much so that it frightened Isabelle to some extent invariably.

“Say Mr. Leader… we seem to have some time… how about we play our own little game?”