It's not a must to play Lost Coast to understand this story, but it sure helps. It's a great game, but the graphics are so amazing that some computers will have MAJOR lag.

"Damn leeches." The old fisherman had been on the water since five in the morning, and had found a total of one scrawny little fish. He had just pulled up one of his lobster pots and found the shell of the lobster limp inside the cage. The meat had been cleaned out by tiny leeches that fit through the cracks of the pot.

Leeches were attempting to eat through his dinghy's hull constantly. He had covered the bottom with a layer of metal so that they couldn't get through, but it didn't help his fish situation. He looked at the sun and estimated it to be 8:45.

At this point, he was forced to do what he did every day he didn't catch anything. He stood up in his boat, took his harpoon in his left hand, and thrust at the water. He pulled his harpoon out and saw a skewered leech on the point. He waited for it to die, then dumped it into a bucket.

He kept at it until he had skewered ten leeches, enough for him and his mutt. (Who was chained to a pole on the dock.) The fisherman, annoyed with his mediocre catch, set out for his tiny shack on the dock to skin his leeches.

As he was tying his dinghy to the deck, he heard an explosion. His eyes darted to St. Olga and the small houses there. One was on fire and had a hole in it. That was the house that belonged to McPherson, the carpenter and part-time factory worker of St. Olga. He was a widower and had an extensive collection of bottle caps. He traced a steam trail from McPherson's house to the top of Monastery Cliff.

--

That monastery had been a hot spot of heretic execution in the medieval times. There was also a legend about a monk who was meditating next to a well in the courtyard. In a trance, he began walking around the well until something made him jump into the well. His bones are supposedly still there. Called a "tainted, shameful place", the monastery and the area around it was abandoned and a rumor spread that the "Curse of the St. Olga Monastery" would affect all who entered.

"What the hell?" the fisherman asked to no one in particular. What could be going on inside the monastery?

A gate was the only thing separating him and the trail which led up the cliff to the monastery. He had found the key to it a while ago, but didn't have the courage to unlock it and proceed. But he needed to defend his town. He grabbed his harpoon and his key which he used to unlock the gate. He dropped the key, untied his dog from the pole, and told him to stay and wait for him.

As the fisherman proceeded up a set of stairs, he heard another explosion. Another house, this one empty, had been hit. The fisherman quickened his pace up the crumbling stone steps. A wooden set of stairs was visible to access the rest of the trail, but it was visibly rotten.

Suddenly, the fisherman was grabbed from behind by the collar and thrown to the ground. He tried to swing at his attacker blindly, but it grabbed the harpoon and threw it off of the cliff.

His attacker was some kind of human thing. It held a gun and had a helmet with blue eye holes.

"Who the hell are you?" Its voice was mechanical and rough.

"I-I'm a fisherman."

The thing laughed. "And how has that been going for you?"

"N-not well."

"I thought so. Now, why are you up here, you pathetic slime? You think you're a hero? Never mind, don't answer. You want us to stop attacking the poor little people on that island there? It's not happening. Now, I have commands to kill you."

The thing bent down and grabbed the fisherman by the collar again. He held him over the side of the cliff, over the treacherous waters below.

"Any last words?"

"Are you the curse of the St. Olga Monastery?"

"No. I'm a Combine soldier."

"The who?"

At this point, the soldier released his grip on the fisherman. As he hit the water, the soldier yelled, "Where's your hero now, huh?" The soldier laughed maniacally as the fisherman was devoured by the leeches. "Who's going to save your pathetic little town now, you SCUM?"

Those were the last words of the soldier before he felt dreamy, strange. He lost control of his body as he paced back and forth next to the side of the cliff.

--

He was completely at peace as he jumped over the side.