It started with one of the coldest nights I had ever experienced. The fire must have gone out while I was asleep and when I woke up, I was practically frozen and unable to move.

During the day, as I carried bags of stone across my back, my lungs felt like they were on fire and the air grew thicker and thicker. After I collapsed in the square, I was told to go home and given only half a days wages.

I didn't argue. My vision grew blurry and my body was heavy with fatigue. It was a miracle how I'd managed to walk back in the state I was in but I somehow managed. 

I remembered not having the energy to eat anything. All I did was collapse on the hard wood floor and hug my self to sleep. 

It went on like this for a few days. With my head pounding, body aching and chest filled with phlegm, I would wake up with only enough energy to eat some bread and light the fire. Then my body would give in to exhaustion and I would go back to sleep.

One night my coughing was so violent, I thought I would die. My chest heaved and I prayed to some unknown force up there to have mercy on me for once in my life. If I was meant to die I wanted it to be fast, not like this.

I woke up after a few days after hearing the sound of someone shouting outside. Surprisingly, I felt better. My chest was light and I could breathe properly again. I stretched, relieved to find no more pain in my limbs and joints. 

The sound of a woman screaming made me sit up and I got up to walk to the window to check on what was happening.

Was the wedding going on already? Was Arabella married?

I walked to the window and peered outside to see a man and woman running down the street with a bundle wrapped in cloth in their arms. The air was cold and the sky was dark. A feeling of trepidation washed over me as I realized the streets were too empty for daytime. 

I heard a soft murmur behind me and quickly turned around to see my mother slumped by the wall in a corner. 

What was she doing here?

She coughed and a gurgled sound escaped her mouth, making it sound like she was choking. Forgetting her previous abandonment, I rushed to her in worry to check on her.

As I neared the stench of blood and faeces stung my nose and made my eyes water.

My eyes widened in horror when I saw the blood streaming down from her nostrils and the corners of her mouth. 

"Help me," She whimpered weakly with her eyes closed. She lifted a hand towards me which I grabbed desperately only to feel her skin break within our contact. She hissed in pain and I quickly released her. 

Her fingers were black and peeling by the sides. 

I bent down and clutched her shoulders desperately. What was happening to her?

"Save me," She begged and then she heaved loudly before coughing up blood all over the floor. Her clothes were soaked and her body was shaking. I was afraid to touch her, scared that she would break to pieces in my arms like her fingers did.

I stood up and rushed to the door. I would call for help. Maybe a doctor would be able to save her.

"I'm going to go find someone who can help, okay?" I reassured to which she only gurgled in response. I wondered if she could even hear me.

I rushed out onto the cold deserted streets and into town where I knew I would be able to find a doctor but the streets were just as deserted as our quarters. The market place was empty and then I noticed a few bodies scattered by the sidewalks.

I bent down and turned one over and my breath caught in my throat as I stared at a lifeless person with a black nose and a blood stained face. I released him and rushed to the nearby bars. As I looked into each one I saw heaps of bodies, piled next to each other in corners. 

It slowly began to sink in that almost everyone had been affected with the same thing as my mother. 

Suddenly my nerve endings ignited sending a frenzy of electricity up my limbs.

Where was Arabella?

I rushed to her milk stall only to find it empty. I was only mildly relieved when I found the sidewalk behind her stall empty. But still, where was she? Were her sisters and her, okay?

I didn't care about the rough stones digging into my bare feet, or the freezing cold slicing like knives across my skin. 

I ran with all the energy I had towards her small cottage beyond our quarters. While I ran I bent down and checked every body I passed on the way. 

My heart thumped with fear, realizing I was the only one left standing.

When I reached Arabella's cottage, I rushed to the door and pushed it open. A gust of cold wind hit my face and my chest felt heavy with dread. The lights were off, there was no fire in the fire place and the air was cold and stagnant, dead.

I rushed in, turning over furniture and looking at all the corners. As I walked to the kitchen I saw a dark leg sticking out from the inside. 

I walked into the kitchen and clasped my hand over my mouth to stifle the cry that escaped my lips. 

There by the wall, lay Arabella's two younger sisters. Their eyes were wide open and they had the same features of all the dead bodies I had seen outside.

Bloodshot eyes, black noses, fingers and legs, blood stained faces and necks.

I knelt down and shook their shoulders hoping they would stir awake but they remained expressionless and still. 

I turned to my right to see a man and woman, holding hands in unconsciousness. Their eyes were closed and their chests were not moving either. 

I got up and looked around for Arabella but did not find her. The back door that lead to the garden was ajar and I walked towards it, hoping to see her outside alive.

My heart beat incessantly, getting more frantic the nearer I got. Maybe she survived, like me?

When I walked into the garden I saw a black foot lying across the grass. I ran around the house to the other side and collapsed onto the floor when I saw Arabella leaning by the wall.

There was a man next to her, whom I presumed was her fiancee. 

They lay there in silence, no movement in their chests, no breaths escaping their lips. Arabella's fingers were curled around a cat, who seemed to have suffered the same fate. 

A loud cry escaped my lips and bile rose up my throat. I wretched onto the floor before me but my stomach was empty and only saliva came out. With a heaving chest I crawled towards her and held her in my arms. 

Her limp body sunk against my chest and my tears drenched her hair. I stayed like that for a few minutes, wanting to fall asleep permanently and join everyone else in their stupor but then I thought of my mother who was still alive.

It took all my energy to leave Arabella but I finally released her and ran back to my house. When I walked in the room was deadly silent and my mother lay huddled in the same place. Only this time she was silent.

"Mother?" I whispered, afraid my voice would break her like my touch did.

She didn't respond.

A wave of helplessness washed over me as I walked towards her and knelt down to find her unconscious as well. I shook her slightly and then put my hand over her heart. 

Her chest was not moving and I felt no heart beat. 

I stood up in silence feeling numb. Everyone was dead.

Not knowing what to do, I walked outside hoping to find someone alive like me. Someone I could ask for help. Maybe they would be able to help Arabella and my mother.

I walked down the streets endlessly and my steps grew heavier as I realized everyone was dead. I passed by the well on the way to the square and bent down to look at the water.

My throat ached with thirst but I didn't want to quench it. I wanted to join the others. 

My knees hit the ground sending bolts of pain up my thighs and hugged myself as my body shook violently. I cried out loud knowing no one would hear me and let the cold consume me. 

"Father there's someone there," A young girls voice pierced the air making me wonder if I had imagined it.

I looked up to see a few people dressed in black walking towards me. 

"He doesn't look infected," A man stated.

"Check him," Another man ordered and a tall man bent down before me, examining my face. 

He put on a pair of gloves before touching me and turned my face to check my neck. He then grabbed my fingers and looked at my feet. 

"Is this your blood?" He asked but I only stared at him in silence.

My eyes flitted from his face to the faces of the people standing before me. Two men, a lady and a young girl who peeked at me from behind the skirt of the lady. All of their faces were healthy, devoid of blood and black skin. 

How did this family survive? 

"It isn't his blood and his breathing is fine. He doesn't seem to be affected," The man crouched in front of me said.

"Bring him with us then," The short man stated and the tall man yanked me up by the arm.

"Are you sure you want to do that? Look at him, he's so dirty and he stinks. What if he is infected but hasn't shown the symptoms yet?" The woman complained and I could see the disgust on her face as she looked at me.

"He is not infected. If he was, he would have swollen lymph nodes, which he doesn't," The tall man stated.

"How is he not affected?" The shorter man studied me curiously. "Did you immunize anyone else, doctor?" 

His tone was threatening and the man holding me shook his head quickly. "No, I didn't have enough to immunize anyone else." His eyes fell to the floor in shame and he looked broken.

"I suggest we leave him here. He has no use for us and he might make Sienna sick," The older woman said, tucking the small girl behind her and as far away from me as possible.

"Well, all our slaves are dead. So unless you want to wash our clothes and dishes and clean up after us, the boy is coming with us," The shorter man instructed and the doctor dragged me along with them to the carriage. 

One look at the house and the carriage made me realize that the short man was the mayor.

I dug my heels into the floor to stop them.

"You are a doctor, right? You must help my mother and my neighbors," I begged furiously. 

"They are all dead. There's nothing we can do to help them," The mayor said. "I don't know how you are alive but you might as well save yourself."

"How are you alive?" I shot back. 

I was pushed into the back of the carriage and sealed off with the seats in front. I began thrashing around, trying to get out and run back to the village but I was so weak and tired, my kicks were useless. 

"If your family survived then you must know how to save them!" I shouted angrily from behind.

"He is frightening Sienna," The woman complained.

"Dr. Stefan, can you do something about him? It will be troublesome to travel on ship with him like this," The mayor said.

"I'll see if I have something."

I ignored them and continued kicking and punching the seats in front of me to get their attention. Finally the seat was pushed forward and I saw the Dr's face. He grabbed my hand and I felt a sharp sting in my wrist. 

I fell back feeling giddy headed and my blinked my eyes repeatedly.

"Finally," The woman's voice was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

This chapter describes the Black Plague that killed millions in Europe in the 1300's. I'm not sure about where the refugees went but in this story Zayn ends up in New Orleans. Hope you enjoyed and feel as bad for him as I do :( :(