Day 6 morning

"Of course not," Dallen replied, closing the zippo and bringing them back into darkness.  "Anyone have a lockpick?"

"Yeah," Ethan spoke up as he wiped the tears from his eyes.  He suddenly had a new realization of hope, as he pulled a pick from his belt.  Luckily the military men left them all alone with whatever they had on them.  "Almost forgot."  He immediately began working on his lock.  "I used to break in to places, so sue me."

"We didn't say anything, brotha," Briggs chimed in.  "You get us out of here, I'll praise you forever as the greatest theif that ever lived."

"Someone's coming," Riley quickly said.

Ethan put his pick away as bright lights suddenly lit up the room.  Everyone all had to experience the blindness together, taking some time for the majority to adjust to the sudden change.  The steel door at the end of the room opened, and in walked three armed military men.  They walked to the center of the room as a few more soldiers entered the room and stood.  Two of them approached the cages and opened them all, one by one.  The group was pulled out and lined up in a half circle, all of them forced on their knees.

From left to right, Riley, Briggs, Steven Burwell, Erin, Ethan, Elizabeth, Pastor Leroy Book, Kenjen, Blake and finally Dallen.  

The seemingly eldest of the soldiers stood firm in the center of everyone, two of his trusted men on either side of him.  "My name is General Brooks, these two here are private's Cole and Peterson.  We are the United States military, well, at least what's left of it.  You will not speak unless spoken to, or there will be consequences.  Every action has a reaction.

"Now, you're probably wondering why we dragged all of you way the fuck to the middle of nowhere.  It's quite simple, really.  I'll give you the jist of it, pictures included!"  The general twirled one of his fingers and one of his men pushed in a projector into the room.  "I'm more of a visual learner myself."  He paused only to cough and clear his throat.  "I know we just got adjusted to the light, but we're going back to the dark."  Another wave, and the lights shut off, save for the projector screen.  It was blank for the moment.

"Now, as you may know," he started again.  "There are people dying and coming back to life, then they're eating everyone else.  Kinda strange, if I do say so myself.  The jist of it is, the world is at war.  My men and I have been assigned to SG17-KV, otherwise known as the Hive.  A military research facility built 70 miles under the surface.  You are currently in the lowest level of the Hive, there is no escape.

"This facility was created for one purpose, and one purpose only.  Create biological weapons of mass destruction for the United States of America."

"'Murica!" Private Cole shouted.  His eyes were wide as he looked down each one of the prisoners.

"So when we heard that the President of our great nation decided to shut us down, we did the only thing we could," the General continued again.  "We started world war 3."

"You started this?" Dallen couldn't help but to speak out.  "You're all insane."

Cole almost rushed in to shut Dallen up, but general Brooks stopped him with a single motion.

"I can see how you might assume such, from a civilian point of view," Brooks said.  "Mecha City was an accident.  One of many missiles malfunctioned and came back on our soil.  The mist is under our control.  Ready for the big reveal?  You, yes all of you, have the cure within you.  I don't know how or why, hell I don't care.  All I know, is my men have been ordered to watch Mecha City survivors.  Something in your blood makes you immune to the virus, and now we need your blood to make an antitode.  See, we're all here for a good cause.  Perhaps the best cause of all, the cure."

A picture of the Hive they were all in came onto the projection.  
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"The entire military is behind this?  The president?"  Briggs spoke, not caring for the rule stated earlier about not speaking.

"No, no, no," the general sighed and pulled out his sidearm, aiming it at brigg's face.  "The governement went dark on day 1, it's when everything started.  It's been only six days since Mecha City was hit.  In that time, we lost contact with the world.  We took control into our own hands, and when everyone on the outside is dead, we will use the cure to make this world great again.  Unfortunately, we'll be needing all of your blood to save the perfect humanity.  See test subject number 13..."

The projection changed to a shirtless man, he was inside one of the cells they had all just been in.  It took Dallen a moment to realize that it was Tyler, from back at the court building.  Dallen looked to Elizabeth to see her reaction.

"It took us 12 subjects prior to the apocalypse to learn that we don't need to study your blood," the general said, lowering his sidearm back to its holster and pacing around the room.  Private Peterson was handed a steel baseball bat, as he swung it around playfully a few times in the background.  Private Cole had a wide smile across his face, as he knew they were getting to the good part.  "All we need is the blood itself, and we've found out that the quickest and most efficient way to do that, is with private Peterson's friend there."

The private started to pump himself up, as everyone in the group started to realize that he was referring to the baseball bat.  

"This is subject number 13 after the procedure," the general said as the projection changed to another image.  It was of Tyler's corpse, his head caved in from the bat to where he was unrecognizable.  

The soldier's all raised their rifles and aimed at the group, keeping them in place.  Dallen was already clenching a fist, though he also realized there was little he could do.

"We dump the body with our research team, and they come up with this," the general held up a green vile, the antitode to the virus.  "I'm telling you all this because I don't like to bullshit people, you get everything up front with me.  Now, we need to reserve supply, so you're all going back into your cages until we need more.  For right now, just one of you will do."

A white sheet was sprawled across the floor, as the general slowly walked past each one of them.  He only shook his head at the sight of the little girl, then nodded his head as if he was ready to choose one of them.

"You're all heroes," the general said.  "Kill that one."  

The soldiers rushed forward and forced all of them back into their cells, all except the one he had picked to go first.  There was little any of them could do as they were all helpless.  All they could do was watch.

Riley was dragged onto the sheet.  He was terrified, as thoughts of his family were all he could think about.  Private Peterson stepped in and smashed his steel bat over the lawyer's head, knocking him over into a shaking frenzy.  The private continuously bashed in his head until he was tired himself.  Then the men rolled the corpse into the sheet and dragged him away.  The lights shut off completely again.