Once my body had recovered from shock, an all consuming pain started to drown out everything else. A deep throb erupted from within my chest and across my arms and legs from where my wounds were, slowly spreading throughout my body.

We reached land and I was immediately rushed to a nearby infirmary where a mask was placed over my nose. I glanced at my arms and my eyes widened in shock when I saw the wounds the nurse was attending to. 

I didn't expect them to look so severe, I could barely see my skin over all the blisters and blood. My chest constricted violently and I jerked forwards nearly knocking the nurse off the bed.

She stood up and rushed somewhere while I fell back onto the soft mattress. There was a loud thrumming sound in my ears like I was surrounded by a thousand bees and then I realized the wheezing was coming from my mouth as I struggled to breathe.

My hands went up to my chest and pressed on my bones hoping some air would go in and stop this excruciating struggle. 

Through blurry eyes I saw the nurse return with a few other people dressed in white coats. One of them fastened the mask tightly around my nose and I was able to breathe in some air finally. I barely felt the sharp prick in my toe among st the stinging from the rest of my wounds but relief washed over me when the pain subsided right after. 

In fact, I started to feel numb all over and my eyelids were extremely heavy. I clenched my hands tightly hoping for some feeling to return to my body. It was as if I was losing control and I hated it. I didn't want to die like this. In fact, after making it this far I wasn't sure if I wanted to die anymore. 

My hands began to sting and the tears in my eyes made me smile tightly. At least some feeling had returned to me. 

A soft voice caressed my ear in a language I didn't understand as I felt a hand stroke my shoulder. 

The voice was sweet and youthful, full of caution and remorse. It reminded me of the night Arabella had snuck out of her house to give me food. I remembered her delicate voice lying to her parents that the left overs were finished and the milk had gone bad when in fact she had given it to me.

My chest throbbed in pain and fresh tears ran down my face. In my eyes I saw the smooth outline of the skin above her chest where a gold pendant hung marking her as someone else's and then I saw the same chest only this time the skin was grey. 

When I looked up I saw blackened blood crusted lips below lifeless eyes. Black edged itself into her fingers and her feet and then into the edges of my eyes, threatening to erase my memory of her. I tried to fight it but it's spindle like fingers extended towards the center meeting each other until eventually it colored over everything else.

"Do you think he's going to wake up today?" I heard a young boy's voice.

"Don't you have any other better questions to ask? It doesn't affect you in any way," An older voice snapped back.

"I want to eat his food before they take it away again," The boy said.

"Well then you'd better take it now. It's been three days already, I doubt he's going to wake up."

My body felt heavy, like my blood had been filled with lead. I shifted slightly and I heard the boy gasp. After struggling for a few seconds I was finally able to open my eyes. I sat up slowly and took in my surroundings.

There was a small boy with one hand in a sling standing in front of the bed I was in and around me where rows and rows of the same white beds, nearly all of them occupied. Most of their occupants were unconscious while the others were sitting up and staring into space.

Almost everyone had a tube connected to their arms. When I looked down I saw a needle stuck into my inner forearm with a tube attached to it.  My eyes followed the tube right up to the see through bag hanging on a thin metal rod. It had liquid inside that was going into my body.

My bandaged hand immediately grabbed the needle and attempted to pull it out but the old man from the bed across shouted for me to stop.

"You need that," He admonished. "You haven't eaten in days."

The small boy grabbed a piece of bread from the tray by my bed and ran back to the bed next to the old man.

A nurse rushed to us and stopped in her tracks when she saw me awake. She smiled widely and spoke loudly but I couldn't understand a word she said.

I cast a questioning look at the old man who was looking at me as well. 

"She's speaking English. Most of them speak that language here," He explained to me in Spanish.

I nodded my head as a few other nurses rushed to my bed. They began to check my eyes and one of them stuck a glass tube into my mouth. They mumbled to each other all the while fussing over me and taking down notes. 

Once they were done an older nurse pushed the tray towards me and gestured for me to eat. This was the first time someone had served me food and it took awhile for me to believe it was real. After a moments hesitation I leaned forward and began to eat.

"I'm Xavi," The old man introduced himself. "And this is Pablo. We were one of the few who fled Valencia when the plague hit." 

There was a sadness to his tone that I couldn't help but resonate with. I didn't have to imagine what he had gone through because I had seen the same thing.

"How many survived?" I asked him between mouthfuls of food.

He only shook his head in response. 

"I'm Zayn," I said wanting to change the morbid atmosphere that had dawned on us after my question. "From Seville."

"Unique name." Xavi rubbed his stubbed chin with his fingers as he studied me.

I nodded my head and ate slowly, not bothering to explain that my mother was an immigrant but I had been born in Spain. We were still treated like immigrants anyway.

"What's going to happen to us now?" I asked him once I had done eating. I drank the clean water and leaned against the wall, looking at Xavi and Pablo.

"Once we are fit enough we will be discharged like the others before us. They will give us our papers and then it's up to us to find a job and place to live," Xavi explained. 

I wasn't surprised. It was similar situation for me in Seville. I had to work to be able to eat and put a roof above my head. 

"You'll be fine," Xavi said bitterly. "It's Pablo and I who need to worry."

I didn't answer because I knew he was right. He was too old for menial work and Pablo was too young. 

A few days passed by before I was declared healthy enough to leave. My recovery was faster than Xavi's and Pablo's so I bid them good bye and left the infirmary. I was taken to the Alien's department who dealt with immigrants and given my papers after I had been asked a few questions.

They gave me a room in a temporary housing unit for a month till I found a place of my own. I was utterly grateful for all the kindness I had never received before. Once I had settled in I walked around the town looking for a place to work.

New Orleans was a unique place. The towns were strangely busier at night than during the day. Almost every other shop was a bar that filled with life after six in the evening. I would see people joyously dancing and singing, not a care in the world or a crease of worry on their foreheads.

When I saw there was a vacancy for a waiter in one of the busiest bars called Immortal, I immediately applied. I was placed in the kitchens because I couldn't speak English, but after a few months I had learnt to understand and speak broken English and I was finally placed in front as a waiter. 

Whilst I tended to the happy customers I would watch the musicians sing their hearts out on the stage and when everyone got up to dance I found my feet moving as well. 

I had moved into the room upstairs but I was barely there. I found that the less I slept the less I thought of Seville and Arabella. I lived for the excitement in the bar downstairs and the voices of people singing and dancing. 

It was on one of the colder nights that I caught a girl staring at me from a table by the wall. I didn't think much of it and continued clearing one of the tables. I had gone in with the dishes and come out with fresh drinks when I caught her eye again.

She blushed and looked down at her drink. I went to the bar to fix up some drinks and stood behind a shelf so I could properly look at her. She had long black hair that framed her heart shaped face and her eyes reminded me of a cat. She sat with two girls who were chatting with each other animatedly. Whilst they were busy talking, she was looking around searching for something.

Was she looking for me?

"Who you looking at?" Ali, the senior bartender asked me with a sly smile.

"No one," I quickly said, afraid of the repercussions. I loved my job too much and never wanted to do anything to lose it.

"Liar," He laughed. "You're eyeing that girl who has been staring at you the whole night."

I stared at him in astonishment. He noticed it as well.

"She wasn't exactly being subtle. What I don't understand is why you haven't done anything about it." He mixed some rum with a sweetener and handed it to me. "She ordered this."

My feet were rooted in place as I felt strangely afraid to approach her. What did Ali expect me to do? I've never dealt with a situation like this before.

"Can't someone else send this over? I have to tend to other tables," I complained. For some reason I didn't want to serve her.

"No, now stop being such a wimp and do your job," Ali said and then he turned his back to me.

I swallowed my nerves and cursed at him silently. I served the other tables first all the while feeling her eyes on me and then I finally made my way to her.

Her friends had stopped talking once I approached them and they were staring at me curiously with small grins on their petite faces.

I placed her drink in front of her and nodded politely before I turned around to walk away.

"Wait!"

I turned around to see her friend with fiery red hair smiling at me. "Josephine wants to ask you something."

I automatically looked at the black haired girl who had been staring at me, automatically assuming she was Josephine. She blushed deeply at her friends words and for the first time tonight I found her extremely appealing.

When she didn't say anything, her friend spoke again. "She wants to meet you after you finish your shift."

"I finish at two," I replied expecting them to changed their minds because of how late it was. 

"Okay, we'll be here," The girl replied and I caught Josephine smiling at her drink.

"Umm, okay," Was all I replied before I hurried off to work, unsure of what to expect later. 

Heyy guys. Honestly who can resist Zayns charms haha.