Author's Note – Greetings, I am Daethtofools. Welcome, to yet another one of our stories of Flipping Tables Productions. This story was inspired by a Disturbed (band) music video called 'Another Way to Die'. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, where the rich indulge and abuse the rest of the earth's recourses, and are called 'Lions', while the rest are forced to rummage through the old filth of the world, getting the name: 'Strays', as in stray dogs. To get food and recourses, the scavengers become desperate, and some invent the game Pollice Verso. What the game contains, you will see. Now sit back, and watch the world crumble to dust.

5354: (In Chinese) sounds like "not alive, not dead". This often refers to something that is half dead or on the verge of death.

"The indulgence of our lives

Has cast a shadow on our world.

Our devotion to our appetites

Betrayed us all.

An apocalyptic plight.

More destruction will unfold.

Mother Earth will show her darker side

And take her toll.

It's just another way to die.

There can be another reason why.

You know we should have seen it coming.

Consequences we cannot deny will be revealed in time.

Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky.

A sign of devastation coming.

We don't need another way to die.

Can we repent in time?"

- 'Another Way to Die' by Disturbed

As the light breeze brushed past, small pieces of trash rolled of the large heaps and hit the sandy ground. The sun hit the filth and trash with unforgiving heat, making the atmosphere dry and stale. Dead trees were scattered everywhere, the source of the thousands of splinters sticking out from the ground. Although the air was still, sounds of fighting and cheering echoed through the garbage mounds.

Strays, as the Lions called them, were men, women, and families that wore old, filthy, tattered clothing. Almost everyone was so thin their skin practically hugged their bones, while others were somewhat healthy but still thin. Some of them went out of the compound every day, scavenging through the mountains of trash and garbage from past generations, hoping to find something to keep them alive.

Children ran around playing with broken toys, such as two wheeled toy cars and a torn up Frisbee. Adults walked around with long sticks to poke through sharp piles, which had broken glass or rusted metal.

The sound of cheering came from compound #5354, one of the 'best' kept compounds for Strays. It used to be a large public pool, but now the water was all dried up, and most of the buildings were in ruined, although the Strays rebuilt them enough to be livable.

There were only two standing buildings: the bath house and the tool shed, both being occupied by Lion hired guards. Small huts made of scraps of aluminum, tattered clothes, and everything the Strays could find were littered throughout the large compound, and small metal stands – which used to be life guard towers – were set up so guards could supervise the Strays.

In the center of the compound was a heavily guarded fenced area, with signs that had different shapes (such as a medium circle, small circle, and square) attached to it. Strays were latched onto the fence like leeches, their arms desperately trying to reach through to the wonderful recourse in the center. Guards armed with anti-matter rifles made sure the Strays wouldn't try to climb over or enter unless the current person's time was up.

A loud buzz rang from the timer inside, and the Strays outside began shouting and pushing to get to the entrance. A young woman, about 14 years of age, squeezed past the others and rushed to the entrance. She was tanned with loose fitting filthy clothes, and seemed to have never had a bath in her life. But, of course, no one but the guards has had a bath at all.

A guard stopped her before entering, and she timidly handed him a rather filthy plastic bowl. He snatched it out of her hand and practically slammed it against a sign, making her flinch. The guard lined the bowl up with the medium circle (which had the words 'Mon. Thurs.' underneath), and when he saw it matched, he tossed it back to her, and flipped the switch next to the sign.

She slowly walked to the center, the people latched to the sides spitting insults and threats at her. She tried her best to ignore their words and approached the rare and heavenly fluid within.

Water.

It was a rather old kiddy pool, with murky, grey water in the center. But, dirty or not, water was water. A rusty streetlight, blinking the color red, stood before the pool, a shattered solar energy panel hanging loosely off of it. Signs all around the pool stated the following:

CONSERVE WATER

DO NOT:

Hoard

Garden

Share

She knelt by the pool and turned her eyes to the streetlight, eagerly waiting. After a few moments, the red faded and a bright green came to life, and the girl began scooping up the disgusting water and drinking it hastily, drinking as much water as she could.

Only seconds after it turned on, the light buzzed loudly and went back to red. The girl sighed heavily, stood, and walked out of the area sadly.

But, this was not the source of the cheering.

The source of the cheering came from a few yards away, at the dried out rectangular pool. It was 14 by 22 feet pool that was about 8 feet deep. Strays sat on the ledge or on ripped lawn chairs, cheering and screaming. Even a few guards sat by, watching with interest. Betting stands stood nearby, contracted from old plastic folding tables. People betted everything they could from old canned foods, half rotted fruits, old shoes, etc.

The largest lifeguard stand towered over the edge, and a tan burly man sat in it, staring into the pool intently. Long greasy hair hung down his face, large bags underneath his light green eyes.

Inside the dried pools, the ground was coated with dried blood. Crushed skeletons were everywhere. Two opponents stood inside, fighting to the death in the bloody game Pollice Verso.

One opponent was named the Gecko, one of the bone-thin Strays, with bandages on his forearms and thighs. His face was covered with a torn green mask, and wore faded green swim shorts. He equipped a rusty metal rod from an old broom, and twirled it around in his hands as if it was a baton.

The other opponent was noticeably younger and smaller, and had a rather terrifying appearance. Their head was covered with a black, metal hockey mask, which had an odd splatter of blood on it. A dark grey scarf wrapped around its head, covering everything but their mask, and for some bizarre reason, covered their right eye. They wore a blood splattered grey T-shirt, and a black vest. Torn jeans hung of their legs loosely, and feet were barefooted, bandages wrapped around the soles of their feet.

Their skin was pale, with their right arm wrapped tightly with two layers of dirt-coated bandages, even the hand and individual fingers were wrapped carefully. Their visible left eye was jade green, but unnaturally pale. The Gecko noticed that the eye didn't follow his movements. He also noticed the kid was unarmed, and a grin crawled onto his face.

The man on the life-guard post stood on the chair and shouted,

"Welcome, to Pollice Verso Six!"

The cheering volume rose, until the man motioned his hands for silence. He continued:

"I am your host, Xin Fu! The rules are simple: incapacitate or knock down your opponent, and when they cannot fight back any longer, I shall choose whether the defeated should be condemned to death, or spared!"

He gave a "thumbs-up" sign to a sickly old man standing next to the life-guard stand, and the old man nodded and struck a make-shift gong, made of bike chains, boards made of dead trees, and a large cooking pot.

"Round 1: The Gecko..."

Most of the audience cheered louder, some standing and clapping. Even the guards joined in the excitement. Once the crowd calmed down, the Gecko waited with anticipation.

"...verses the Blind Bandit!"

-o-o-o-

Katara quickly rushed to her makeshift home, which was a hut made of melted and shaped plastic, held together by rusted nails. The frame of the hut was made of branches from dead trees. Surprisingly, the hut was large enough for three people: her older brother Sokka, Katara, and their grandmother, who they and everyone else called Gran-Gran.

Gran-Gran was currently sleeping in her sleeping bag, and Katara quietly tip-toed to pick up two partially rotted tomatoes, and before she crept out, a voice asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

Katara froze, and then turned around quickly, hiding the tomatoes behind her back. She grinned sheepishly as her grandmother approached. "Uh, good-morning, Gran-Gran..."

The elder woman smiled, and handed Katara three dried sardines. "If you're going to bet, take these. And make sure Sokka picks the right fighter this time, would you?"

Katara smiled, took the fish, and gave her grandmother a quick hug. Then she ran out of the hut towards the arena to see her first Pollice Verso Match.

There was already a large crowd surrounding the betting table, and Katara spotted Sokka the second one from the front, searching his pockets for something to bet. She sighed in irritation and pushed through the surrounding people, who gave her dirty looks. Sokka rummaged through his empty pockets, until a hand tapped his shoulder.

He let out a rather girlish scream and jumped about a foot in the air. The surrounding people snickered and Sokka's face turned pink as he turned around. An annoyed Katara stood there, arms crossed across her chest and tapping her foot.

"Oh, hey there Katara!" He greeted, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, by any chance, do you have any-?"

Katara pulled out the decaying food and walked ahead of him to the betting stand. She placed the food down on the table and the oddsmaker automatically asked, "Who would you like to bet on, ma'am?"

"The Boulder-!" Sokka started, but was cut off when Katara put her hand over his mouth.

She sighed and stated, "No, Sokka. We are not betting on the Bolder this time. We lost a whole goat that time!"

"It was only one time!" Sokka defended, pouting. "Besides, the goat was too thin anyways."

"A-HEM." The oddsmaker coughed, then tapped the cardboard board on the table, listing the fighters names. The two siblings leaned over and studied the roster.

"The Boulder...Hippo...Gold Sink Man...Gopher...Gecko...hey, what's the chances of this guy, um, the Blind Bandit, going to win?" Sokka asked, pointing at the name. The oddsmaker closed his eyes for a second, and replied, "Five out of ten...at most."

"We'll take it!" Sokka shouted before Katara could stop him. The Oddsmaker smiled and placed the food into a basket and scrawled a few illegible words onto a scrap piece of paper and handed to Katara, who took it reluctantly. As they walked toward the arena, Katara whacked Sokka lightly on the back of the head, nearly shouting, "What did you do that for?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" He replied.

"You just lost us all of our food!"

"No, don't worry, my little sister." Here, a confidence was gushing out of his voice. "You see, last time I betted, it was because the Boulder had a low score he won so much!"

"But you betted on someone with high chances!"

"No, I betted on someone with medium chances."

"Welcome, to Pollice Verso Six!" The voice of the host, Xin Fu, called, and Sokka grabbed Katara's wrist and dragged her towards the pool. They quickly sat on one of the old diving board getting full view of the pool.

"I wonder why no one sits here." Sokka thought out loud. At that moment, a loud snapping sound was heard and the diving board snapped in half, the other half falling into the arena/pool. The two sibling scooted closer to the edge. "Oh. That's why."

Katara sighed and began picking at her nails, saying, "This is just going to be a bunch of guys beating the snot out of each other, isn't it?"

"That's what I go here for." Sokka replied, grinning.

Katara barely listened to the rules until she heard the rules, "...the defeated should be condemned to death, or spared!"

She felt her blood freeze as her eyes widened in shock. She turned to Sokka and asked, "What?"

Sokka turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What 'what'? I thought I've told you about this game before."

"Round 1: The Gecko..."

Sokka loudly booed and put both of his thumbs down, while most of the others cheered. Katara spotted the scrawny man with the metal pole grinning with excitement.

"...verses the Blind Bandit!"

What Katara expected was a large, muscular fighter that could take their opponents down with one blow. What she didn't expect, was a bandaged child with a bloody hockey mask.

"That kid's not really blind; it's just part of their character, isn't it?" Katara asked.

Sokka blinked and sat up in realization. "I think she is..."

-o-o-o-