The Gauntlet

Sixteen thousand square kilometres of unmapped forest. Two contestants. Zero clothing. Zero tools. Zero mercy. Welcome to the Naked Gauntlet, the world's most brutal reality show. For forty-eight hours, Matt and Hannah are hunted by autonomous Hunter drones while millions watch. The prize is top tier Citizenship and one hundred million credits. The cost could be everything. Matt is a constructor who thinks in foundations and load-bearing walls.
Hannah is a data analyst who controls her breath like a flautist and counts her steps to stay sane. Neither is a soldier. Neither has ever been naked in front of a camera. But the producers have stripped them head to toe - shaved, exposed, and turned into live-streamed entertainment. Alone, they survive. But when they find each other, survival becomes something else. Under a Mylar blanket, buried under forest debris, they are forced into skin-to-skin silence.
The cold becomes heat. The hiding becomes holding. And the game they were supposed to lose becomes a rebellion. The Gauntlet is a slow-burn dystopian romance about two ordinary people who refuse to be reduced to entertainment. Every touch is negotiated, every sensory detail is grounded, and the twist proves that hope can be the most dangerous weapon of all. For anyone who has ever felt like they were being watched. Wordcount: 12, 910