Lost Without You by Heather Thurmeier

water from one of the coolers and sat on a tree stump. Pulling her compact out of her pocket, she quickly checked her makeup and reapplied a little powder where she’d started to look shiny even though she usually didn’t like to mess with her makeup during the day. Being in the harsh, outdoor elements made her question her makeup’s ability to function under pressure. Luckily, her foundation and the humidity were still getting along well. If that changed, she’d have to start bringing her makeup bag to these things for hourly touch ups. Hopefully it wouldn’t get any worse than that since she’d already turned away the makeup person supplied by the show saying they weren’t necessary, and she didn’t like the idea of humidity forcing her to take back her words. Makeup was necessary, but they could keep the person who applied it. Zoe was the only one who touched her face or her makeup and she planned on keeping it that way.
    Zoe hadn’t let anyone touch her since the car accident. During her long recovery, she’d had more doctors and nurses poke and prod her than she could count. Sure, their expertise had fixed her worse scars and damaged areas, but they’d also made her extremely aware of the location of every remaining bump and crease of her skin. She couldn’t let some gossipy makeup person see her without makeup, touch her rough skin or learn the secrets of her extensive surgeries she’d kept hidden from everyone for so long.
    Clicking the compact closed, she looked up to find the first set of contestants coming back with supplies. Most seemed to have done well with arms full of berries, leaves, and roots. Hopefully they knew which ones were edible because Zoe certainly didn’t.
    Rick, on the other hand, came back to the clearing with something that looked suspiciously like a fish.
    Good luck to whoever has to actually eat this stuff.
    She couldn’t imagine being on this show as a contestant. First of all, foraging for her own food consisted of grabbing an apple from the fridge and that was enough for her. Secondly, if she had to catch a fish, she could, but that didn’t mean she actually wanted to eat it. Her father had taken her fishing almost every Sunday afternoon growing up, but he knew better than to make her eat it after they caught it.
    Zoe got up and wandered over to the first cooking area. The team made up of two dating couples was just getting started with their items. The men on the team were attempting to get the fire lit while the women on the teams organized the items they’d found into different pots.
    â€œHow’s it going over here?” Zoe asked. “Have you decided on what you’re making for your meal?”
    One of the women, Tammy if Zoe remembered correctly, shrugged. “Not really. We’re going to taste stuff and then see what we think goes together well.”
    â€œSounds like a good plan. I’ll let you get to work. You have twenty-five minutes left to cook.”
    She walked to the next station. They didn’t look much further along in their process.
    â€œHow is your meal coming along? Did you find enough things to cook with?”
    One of the girls from the all-girls team answered. “We found some really great edible wild flowers that will make a tasty salad along with a warm berry dressing.”
    Zoe was impressed. That almost sounded like a normal dish you’d find on the menu of an up-scale restaurant. “Wow. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Since you have everything under control, I’ll leave you to it.”
    Zoe made her way to the rowing team’s station next. Jared, the guy who clearly came off as the team leader, told her all about what they’d found to cook. They too had managed to catch a fish like Rick’s team and were in the process of filleting it. Just another reason why she preferred not to eat the fish she caught. Fish guts were not