[i]"Day Zero: Experiment is primed, subjects are in place, all units are on standby. Five minutes to initiation."

The man clicked off the voice recorder and set it on the table beside him. The room he was in wasn't particularly large; it was about the size of a high school basketball court, though the ceiling was far lower. He wasn't a very tall man, but he could have brushed the ceiling with his fingertips if he desired. He gave the dozens of monitors in the room one final check, ensuring they were feeding. His laptop was sitting open, humming away, next to a large touchscreen table, which displayed an aerial view of the five mile by five mile range of the area, courtesy of the drone circling silently far above. He glanced at the man beside him, who was dressed in the same white lab coat, black dress pants, and black leather shoes. He nodded, and the man entered a prompt into his own laptop. The screens flickered, then stabilized, with a small red circle in each to indicate they were recording. Another prompt loaded several bright green dots in the center of the tabletop map. All subjects were accounted for. 

"One minute. Transmitting alert signal" he called, reaching for a heavy breaker switch mounted to the wall and snapping it to the ON position. A new window opened up on his laptop as he plugged a wireless phone into one of the many slots. The screen blinked on and ran a quick diagnostic. Everything was functioning properly. He unlocked the phone and scrolled through the list of contacts. He selected them one at a time and sent each a text message.

Satisfied, he reached for the handheld voice recorder once again, checking his watch.

"Time: 12:00PM. Experiment initiated."[/i]

---

A harsh white light filled the small, square room. It was a simple structure, with four concrete walls, four metal roll-up garage doors, and a hard concrete floor. It was lit above by long white shop lights mounted to a tin roof. The only thing that looked out of place was the expensive loudspeaker bolted in one corner of the room. And, of course, a collection of unconscious bodies, laid flat on their backs in a rough circle. The good news was, the thick rubber mats they had been placed on would protect them from any back pain. The bad news was, the small square metal plate on the back of each of their necks, tapped directly into the spinal column, would not treat them as gently. Each individual at once was given a very small electrical shock, snapping them awake and back into reality.

"Hello," the loudspeaker called. "You have been selected to participate in Experiment-200, courtesy of the Institute for the Survival and Ongoing of Humanity. You've been summoned here today to test your ability to make the most important decision in the history of mankind. To kill...or be killed." 

There was a pause.

"Each of you has been stripped of your personal belongings. In their place are three things of great significance to you. One is an unmarked card with a black stripe. This card will provide you unlimited credit to the two stores, located in the northwest and southeast corners of the test area. The other is a cellular flip phone. It is how I will communicate with you as the test progresses. Please do not lose either of these items. The third, you are incapable of losing. You may have noticed a lump on the back of your neck. It is my means to monitoring your health and location. Please do not try to remove it. Doing so will cause paralysis and neurological damage.

"The test is simple. Each of you will be asked to terminate one other subject. The subject's name and face will be sent to you via your cellular phone. Terminating that subject will end your part in the experiment and you will be immediately released. If you do not cooperate, or if you attempt to scale the wire fence that defines the borders of the test area, you will be harmed. To give you a false sense of control, each of you is permitted to call me via your cellular phone one time during the experiment. Use it as wisely or unwisely as you want. 

"Please proceed to one of the four exits."

Another pause, then a click. Without warning, all four doors buzz to life and rise as one. The experiment has begun.