: A/N: Hiii this story's all mine. Plot, characters, ect. So on blah blah. Please be kind, rewind. Don't steal. xD I do realize there are probably a few bad mistakes here and there, or you know everywhere. But I do have a life, -cough- Honest. I do. And/or I am too lazy to go back and correct them. Either or really. -shrug- Alrighty then, you know the drill. Tell me if you like it, don't if you don't. I think I'm going to continue this one, I swear. xD And on with the show::

Dead To The World.

Chapter one:

I rubbed my eyes warily, 2 a.m. and I was exhausted. The rain pounded down on my windshield like great waves, dancing with the wind to shake and push on my small Honda. I wove past a ripped branch on the backroads of dark and damp Mississippi highway, the dark woods practically swallowing up the small almost non-existent back road like it were nothing. I squinted my eyes through all the rain, leaning forward to try and get a better view of where I was driving.

"This is insane." I whispered to myself, fading my booming Perfect Circle to the back of my speakers. Trying to concentrate on not hitting any on coming animals or strays.

My hip suddenly vibrated, then the all-too-familiar ringtone filled the front of the car, clashing with my booming bass. I groaned, looking down at the small illuminated screen of my flip-phone.

"Don't you people ever leave me alone?" I rolled my eyes, realizing how completely and utterly tired I really was. Until the vibrating started up again.
"Damnit!" I reached for my phone, turned it on with an angry hello. My boss. Great.

"Tommorow? C'mon Bill I've been working days, everyone's shift. You're going to have to give me the day off you promised. No! No I'm not taking her shift again! Grow some balls and fire her." Click. I wasn't dealing with him again. I saw him more than I even saw my apartment bedroom. Seeing him meant work, I even avoided him if by chance I caught him in the grocery store. Five minutes talking to him about the wheather would turn into 'Could you come to work tommorow?' And of course, Zowie Excel was on it-

I gasped, swerving to miss the lone deer that trotted into the middle of the street. You know in the movies, how time seems to slow, and you can see every little action inside your mind, even in the other's? That's not how it felt. One minute I saw a flash of brown fur and the next my head plastered itself to the front of the dashboard.

I tried to move my right arm, but it was tangled in my seat belt, which was ripped in half . . . how did that happen? I was lifted. 'I'm lifting . . . out of the car.' My head moved slowly up to look through the onslaught of rain to find a blurry face. I turned toward the street, wishing I hadn't done that so fast.

"The deer . . . did I hit the deer?" I asked, my voice sounding rough and raspy, nothing like mine. The man didn't answer, so I shoved at his chest to put me down. He didn't. This angered me. I looked up at him through squinted eyes.

"Did you save the damned deer, too?" I asked, angrily. Okay, I was in a car accident. My car was probably totalled . . . but I had insurance. And if I was lucky enough, I probably wouldn't have to go into work for a couple of days and I would still get payed. I felt alright, besides the feeling of the world bouncing around me, while I tried to bounce with it. Does that make sense? I didn't think so either. He said something but I didn't really catch it, everything was swaying. It was giving me a bad headache, on top of the headache I had of taking bar orders. Yeah, on top of that headache. Well, at least I was thinking logically. Work, deer, car, pay, head. Everything was alright. Oh, and the man. Him too.

"Well?" I asked, realizing suddenly that my toes weren't touching the ground. I looked from the ground to the sky, finding his face. Or as much as I could see of him.

He had black hair from what I could see, black hair even blacker than mine. If that were even possible. It stuck to his glossy skin and neck, thinking of his skin, it reminded me of a petal on a Magnolia. Not pale as in freshly fallen snow, but soft. Like a touch of sun kissed.

"I . . . like your skin." I said slowly, my eyes skipping his face features as I found his chest. Oh Dear . . .
Thick and broad would explain his shoulders perfectly, now his chest. Hmm, let me think of how to explain. I didn't know why he had no shirt on, but I didn't really care. For some unknown reason his thick chest reminded me of breast plate armor. The kind that the Gladiators wore in Rome. You know, the hats with the brooms on top? His arms held me up, which were probably the size of my thighs. He wasn't massive, or overly muscled. More like I-work-everyday-of-my-life muscles. Not something you get just by the gym. Natural is a good word.

"Thank you." I watched his chest as he said it, as it rumbled with the effort to talk against the rain and wind. For some strange reason I wanted to feel his chest, to see if the muscle underneath was as hard as it looked. I put my small hand against one of his small pale nipples. Yes, it was really hard. He actually jumped, which I would have also, but I felt drugged. And my head now felt like a concert bass was going on inside. It made me close my eyes and try to concentrate on my breathing. Which I couldn't even hear through all the noise around us.

I opened my eyes, greeted by his face this time, he must have lifted me higher.
"If really is hard." I said, dazed as to what I was saying and doing. Don't get me wrong, if I were in my right mind I would have checked him out, but I also would have scowled the strange to find a shirt. In the middle of the woods. On a backroad. Two a.m.. My head dissapeared from my worries as my eyes grew large. I put my hand against his collar-bone, giving a weak attempt at a push.

"Put me down." I said, now realizing exactly what the hell I was doing. Or was about to maybe happen. Where the fuck did my cell phone go anyways? Shitshitshit. My hands landed against his hips in an attempt to squirm away. Suddenly I stopped squirming, letting my hand slide farther down his hip, V-lines, high thigh. Jesus.

"Oh my God." I said in a squeeky voice that deffinitely wasn't mine. "You're naked." It felt like I couldn't move, my body refused. I finally realized I was scared, which pissed me off. My anger always chased away all other emotions, especially one's like fear. I glared up at him through my almond shaped brown eyes. Not even bothering to push my hip-length black hair out of my face.

"You rape me, I'll have the best goddamned attourney on your ass in minutes babe." I said with a smirk, but underneath my heart beat against my bones like a chained animal in a cage. I could even hear the blood rushing in my ears, pushing against my ear drums. I licked my lip and found that it was busted . . . was I hurt? I felt alright, a little slow, but steady. I had my thoughts, which was what I needed most.

My thoughts ended there as he laughed down at me. A rich laughter, the kind you want to reach out and brush. Thick enough to walk on. I just. . . couldn't be angry. It was too, what's the word, joyous?

He set me down on my feet, almost immediately I fell to my knees, my head giving a heavy lurch forward.
"Jesus." I said, holding it tightly. I looked to my right, while the wind whipped at my face. My eyes widened as I got to my feet. The man touched my shoulder.

" I need to get you out of here." He said, voice raised to be heard through the roaring wind and rain. I pushed past him as I ran slowly and unsurely down the highway. The deer...

I got to my knees, trying to find its pulse.
"I can't believe I did this." I said in a faraway tone. It's stomach was completely ripped open, the organs sprayed across the highway like a Pacaso painting. One horn was ripped away to land somewhere not too far off. It's skull looked caved in on one side. I covered my mouth with my hand as I watched pale gleaming feet come close, but I didn't look up.

It sickened me I did this to an animal. But I didn't mean to, but did it really matter? No, I'd done it, that's what mattered. You can't change what's already done. A hard fact I'd learned many times before this, and didn't doubt many times after this.

"It's dead." He said in a deep growly voice. I hovered my hands above it's head as I kneeled over it. My side gave a screaming protest, but it didn't stop me.

"What are you doing?" He asked, kneeling down. I kept my eyes closed and my hands positioned as I said a prayer for the animal.

"Praying." I said softly. And that's exactly what I did, and at the end I asked for forgiveness. I didn't enjoy hurting things, or vise versa. It ripped my heart open to see these things. I couldn't even watch the news, it was filled with horrible pictures and news broadcasts that I didn't like dwelling over when I went to go to sleep. I had enough problems of my own; although I did always watch the commercials with the children in Africa. I felt so terrible for always over-eating at the buffet. Or not liking my hamburger because it had too much ketchup on it. I always sent my tips to the mailing address they gave you. They needed it more than I did.

"You're bleeding." I heard his voice as I opened my eyes, but when I tried to focuse on him the world jumped. And I landed on my side looking down the long empty highway, praying that no one would drive by going 90 out of the blue. I tried to make myself get up, but my eyes were so heavy, and my mind seemed to turn to sludge. I felt his arms slip under my shoulders, so my head could be cradled against his chest. His other arm under the bend of my knees, bridal style.

"What's your name?" He asked, as I watched a huge sheet of black hair curtain his face from the rain so I could look up at his solemn expression without rain in the way. I watched the rise and fall of his defined and muscled chest from below, the hard carve of his jaw when he spoke. The soft full-lipped, pale and pouted smile he gave me, warm brown eyes to soften his hard warrior-like features.

"Zowie. Zowie Excel." I said, my voice drifting and my eyes closing as I rubbed my cheek against his stomach, finding his stomach even harder than his chest.

"You smell . . . like my cat." I said softly, not even hearing myself as my words fell into the raging storm, drifting off with the wind to blow over the tops of the trees and higher into the sky as I was carried away unconcious.