The Contestant. Stephanie Doyle

better than anyone, that Reuben wasn’t going to be swayed once he set his mind to something. She knew because she recognized the trait in herself, which was why she couldn’t stop when she was so close. With even faster strokes, she pushed the stick harder and…

      There it was. Red embers catching against the dry strands. Then a small single blue flame dancing among the brush.

      “You got it,” Gus proclaimed.

      She didn’t need to be told. Gently she backed off the stick. “Add a little more brush to the bark, not too much. You don’t want to suffocate it. Fire needs to breathe.”

      But Talia could see that Gus knew his way around the process. Slowly they added bits of debris, blowing gently on the small fire to give it the oxygen it craved until there was a significant flame.

      “Over here,” Sam directed them. While Tommy and Reuben had seen to the bedding, Sam had stacked a tripod of wood and packed it with more driftwood and sun-singed palms that would serve as kindling.

      Eight pairs of interested eyes, and one spectator with a third eye, watched as the fire caught and surged inside its new home.

      “We’ll have to take shifts so that it stays lit at all times,” Gus told the group. “We don’t want to feed it so that it gets too big, and we want to make sure that we can transport some of it if it rains.”

      Talia turned her hands over and studied her now dirtied and bloodied appendages. “Yes. I don’t want to have to do that every day.”

      Reuben walked over to her and circled her wrists with his hands, holding her palms up for inspection. He grimaced, then tugged her toward the water. “I told you to stop.”

      “And I ignored you. You might have to get used to that from me. I’m not Tommy.”

      He pulled up short and glared at her. “That much I have figured out.” Forcibly, he dunked her hands in the water.

      Since rinsing the wounds had been her plan, she didn’t fight him. She figured part of her strategy for dealing with him would be to conserve as much energy as possible. As long as they were headed in the same direction, she had no problem letting him take the lead. Then when it came time to buck him, she’d have the wherewithal to do it.

      Together they bent over the salt water up to their elbows. Talia watched for any signs of smaller predators that might be attracted by the blood, but stopped worrying as soon as she saw her hands were clean.

      “I don’t need you getting an infection that would take you out of the game.”

      “Worried about me again.” It was more of a statement this time. She shook her head. “First saving me from the shark, then from myself. Who’s the Pollyanna now?”

      “I have my reasons” was his only response.

      She straightened and looked at her hands. Pieces of skin were missing but, other than that, she was fine. “I know you do.”

      He narrowed his eyes to study her. “What do you do? I mean back in the real world.” It was unexpected. He’d been so insistent about keeping his own secrets that she felt taken aback by his sudden curiosity.

      “What do you do?” she countered.

      He scowled at her nonanswer. “I asked you first.”

      “So?”

      He huffed then shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really do anything anymore.”

      “Then you’d better hope you do well in this game. It sounds like you could use the money.”

      With that she left him and made her way to the group. The fire was gaining strength among the logs. Gus and Iris were creating a makeshift skewer that could hold the bucket for boiling water and would also be useful for when they started catching fish.

      Reuben rejoined the camp and found his backpack. He reached into it and pulled out a sealed plastic bag then stepped in front of Talia cutting her off from anyone watching.

      “Let me see your hands again.”

      “They’re fine.”

      “Hey, camera guy,” Reuben called out to the man who was currently filming the fire as if it were another contestant on the show.

      “Dino,” the portly man answered, supplying his name without stopping his filming.

      “Right. Do we have a first-aid kit?”

      “There was one in the boat.”

      That was answer enough since the boat was gone. Talia heard Reuben muttering under his breath, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. He opened the bag and extracted two T-shirts. One white and one black. Both dry.

      “Nice trick,” she noted. All her stuff was wet from the swim. She planned to lay everything out overnight to dry and realized she should have planned better. A dry shirt to change into would have felt good. She couldn’t help but be somewhat annoyed that Reuben had been one step ahead of her in that regard.

      “Lucky for you I thought of it. We’ll use them as bandages.” He started to wrap one of his shirts around her hand, but she pulled it back.

      “I don’t need your help,” she countered.

      “They need to be covered. You scraped them raw and bugs will have a feast if you don’t wrap them up.”

      He was right. She winced at the image of bugs eating the exposed flesh. But still she didn’t understand his motivation.

      “Is this another way of flirting with me?” And more importantly, was he flirting with her as part of some strategy to win the game? Or did he simply want to get her into bed?

      He looked up from his task and she could see his white teeth. “I don’t flirt, sugar. I don’t need to.”

      “Then I don’t get it. Why all the concern? You said yourself this game is about everyone fending for themselves.”

      “It is. Or at least it will be after we get a few of the others off.” He took a step closer to her, invading her space. “But for now I need you.”

      Uncontrollably, her breath caught in reaction to his nearness. “And when you’re done needing me?”

      “I’ll break you like a bad habit.” His smile grew wider, even as he took a step back and reached for her other hand to wrap up.

      “Good to know,” she muttered.

      “I play to win.”

      Talia lifted her chin, instinctively reacting to the challenge in his tone. “So do I.”

      “Should be an interesting game.”

      He finished and Talia noted the solid job he’d done with the makeshift bandages. The shirts were tied loosely enough so that her wounds would get some air, but securely enough to keep any critters out. The man understood the basics of first aid, it seemed.

      They moved closer to the group, who were now circled around the fire. Clothes were being laid out to dry and everyone was picking a spot on the bed they had crafted. The men had done a good job of finding enough big logs and securing them together with leaves and vines to make what was essentially a large raft, then covering it with palms that had been rinsed in the water first. It wasn’t as soft as sand, but it was definitely smarter.

      Talia glanced down at the last two spots left to her and Reuben on the end.

      “You’ll take the inside spot,” Reuben told her, dropping his sack to claim his place.

      “Great,” she murmured. She was going to be sandwiched between Gus and Reuben. On the plus side, she’d have the benefit of their body heat. On the downside, her body was reacting a little too warmly to the idea of sharing space with Reuben.

      Eventually the sun finished its descent over the western horizon and Dino called to Evan for his escape. Building