DISCLAIMER: I don't own Resident Evil, but these characters and the city of Cauman are my creations. Enjoy.

With a groan, Jason Deacon opened his eyes to see an airplane stewardess standing over him, poised to shake him awake.

"The plane will be landing shortly, sir," she said. Jason smiled weakly, and nodded his thanks. The stewardess smiled and moved to wake up the other passengers. Jason straightened himself in the uncomfortable seat, massaging his lower back to work the stiffness out of it. Damn, he thought. You'd think that a company willing to spend $500 per person to test a stupid game could at least put us on a half-decent plane. He glanced around the interior of the plane, surveying the other passengers. Including him, there were an even number of men and women, and they all looked to be the same age as him, abour 19.

Looking out the window, he saw a small airstrip surrounded by a large forest. It certainly appeared that they had been taken to an isolated island in the middle of nowhere. Shaking his head in amusement, he removed his duffel bag from the overhead compartment and filed off of the plane with the rest of the passengers.

Once everyone was gathered off to the side of the runway, two men wearing matching black suits exited the plane and began walking up to the group, carrying two plain black briefcases each. Placing the cases on the dusty ground, the two men clasped their hands in front of them and the first man addressed the group.

"Welcome, all of you, to the island of Cauman. We've been assigned by our superiors to welcome you to this experiment. Allow me to outline the rules: you will be divided into four groups of five people each. Each group will begin at a different starting point within the city. When the game begins, you will have to compete with the other three teams as well as the many obstacles we have strewn throughout the city. The first team to make it to the police station in the centre of the city will win the game, and each member of the winning team will receive $500, as was promised in the contracts you signed." The second man took off his sunglasses and placed them in his right breast pocket.

"If any of you have ever played paintball, the strategies will be very similar." He bent over and unclasped one of the briefcases sitting on the ground in front of him, revealing five shiny black handguns. "These are the weapons you will be using," he said, holding up one of the handguns up for all to see. "This is a Beretta M92 FS. It's a standard 9mm handgun, lightweight, and easy to reload. Each of you will start with this gun, and fifteen bullets. The bullets will not harm you, they're blanks, but they will hurt if you get hit in a sensitive area. You will be able to find additional bullets and supplies throughout the city, but the backpacks you will receive before the game begins only have a limited amount of space, so choose your supplies wisely." The first man reached into one of the inside pockets of his jacket and pulled out a slip of paper.

"Of the twenty passengers on the plane, we have randomly selected the members of each team and their starting location. I will now read out the names of the four team captains." Jason was barely paying attention when his name was read out loud, naming him as one of the team captains. Once the teams had been named, the people in the large group began to move towards their team captains. Jason's gaze swept slowly over the members of his team, which consisted of two guys and two girls.

The first of the guys, who introduced himself as Joshua Grayson, had a very studious air about him. He had his light brown hair in a mushroom cut, and his dark brown eyes were practically hidden behind a thick pair of glasses. He had on a plain white shirt, brown khaki shorts and striped suspenders. He had a small black case strapped to his back, which Jason assumed contained a laptop computer. In Jason's opinion, Joshua didn't look like he had seen the light of day for a good while, as his skin gave him a rather pale complexion. The second guy stepped forward and extended his hand to Jason, who grasped it firmly.

"My name's Tommy Douglas," he said warmly. He had spiky reddish-blond hair and green eyes, with high cheekbones and a tapered chin. With a white muscle shirt, and a pair of black jeans, he looked like someone who was confident about his physical abilities without being overly cocky about them.

Turning to the first of the girls walking towards him, Jason's jaw dropped in surprise. Damn, she's beautiful, he thought to himself. Her fiery red hair bounced against her shoulders as she walked towards him, her blue eyes sparkling with the reflected sunlight. She had on a white t-shirt that cut off half-way down her chest, and a pair of short blue shorts. She stopped in front of him, smiled and extended her hand.

"I'm Rose Richards," she said cheerfully. Jason stood in front of Rose for a long moment without doing anything, before snapping out of his daze and introducing himself.

The final girl looked like a biker, with her gruff-looking brown shoulder- length hair, black leather jacket, and deep-set army boots. She introduced herself as Tori Oliver.

As the teams split off, the two suits walked a short distance so that they'd be out of the earshot of the teenagers.

"What's wrong with you?" the second man asked the first. The first man sighed.

"I'm just not sure we should do this. I mean, they're just kids! They don't deserve this...it's not right." The second man growled.

"You remember what our orders are. We've been ordered to get more combat data before the product got shipped, and that's exactly what we're going to do. Whether the test subjects are young or old doesn't make any difference. But hey, if you don't want to go through with this, you can go and tell the boss yourself, because I won't be going with you. I'm staying to make sure this job gets done. End of story." The first man took a deep breath.

"You're right, of course. It's just...wait a minute. Did you say 'staying'?"

"Yes, I said we're staying." Seeing the look his partner was giving him, he held up his hand. "It's alright. The only reason the Raccoon City fiasco happened was because that fool Birkin complicated matters. Besides, the observation building has been re-inforced, and there's a private helipad in case any of the B.O.W.'s happen to break in. We have nothing to worry about."

"Alright, but...I still feel like this is wrong."

"It's not our place to question our orders." The second man glanced at the teenagers. "They should be taking this more seriously. This will probably be the last place they ever see."


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