As Zane started walking over to the serving counter, he was relieved that he would have to wait some time because of the line, since he had to think through some things.
Firstly, before awakening, he was eager to leave the Shelter for one reason only, and that was the fact that they wouldn't let him join any cohorts, saying that he was too young and would just die on his first scavenge, so if he wanted to get stronger, he only had one option. Now he had no reason to avoid the Shelter, but still the idea seemed a bit repulsive for some reason, that Zane couldn't quite grasp.
Maybe it was because he got so used to the life in the city, which would get him nowhere closer to his goals anymore, or that he loathed the idea of having to deal with all these devious humans, but he couldn't avoid that if he wanted to pursue his ambitions.
Anyway, he stood in the line and took one of the worn plastic trays.
The whole reason for his unquenchable desire to grow stronger was that he wanted to eradicate the Strugglers from the face of the continent. This meant he needed to not just grow powerful, but also find allies who could help him with this goal of his, and as the start, conquer Perrington. Another one of his innate desires was to have a family, but there was no way he could have peacefully in this world full of zombies.
So was it a wise decision to join Arni's cohort, considering that it was probably the least potent one and that even the stronger ones are picking on them? It'd be normal to think that the idea of joining them would be fairly detestable. But for some strange reason, Zane's intuition signalled otherwise. Any sane person would say it's better to join Geraul's cohort, and you would have higher status and more formidable people on your side.
A confounded expression appeared on Zane's face, while he was tapping the underside of the plastic tray against his palm.
'Interesting...'
Zane's true purpose, that he wouldn't let anyone in the Shelter know, was to gain control over it. So what he needed, was opportunities to grow stronger, and if he could, find people that shared his aspirations.
As he got closer to the counter, he simply decided that whether he would join or not depended on one question, to which he could only get the answer, if he asked it to Arni himself.
Filling his tray with delicious roasted meat and rice to the brim, he turned around and walked back to the three of them with a stern expression sitting on his face.
As he sat down, he lingered for a moment, then facing the blonde young man, he asked:
"So... what is Your goal? Do you really want to just stay here 'peacefully' for the rest of your life?"
For a moment a smirk appeared on Arni's face, however, that was quickly replaced by a serious look.
"My goal? Well... if you're asking it like that, we might be on the same page."
He stared at Zane with a piercing look and added in an ambitious tone:
"Of course, I want to overtake this damn place, but after that..."
He paused for a second, while Zane was looking at him with a grim expression.
"First, I want to conquer the city. Then prefecture, and after that the whole continent. To erase each and every one of those filthy bastard Strugglers."
His voice resounded in Zane's ears for a second. He grinned inwardly.
'Looks like I didn't have to look for too long...'
After a few moments, the blonde young man asked with a piercing look:
"Are you in?"
Still staring into his eyes, Zane's voice was filled with determination:
"I'm in."
A slight, satisfied smile appeared on Arni's face, and after a few moments both of them continued their meals. As soon Zane's bit down on a piece of meat, the savoury taste knocked out all of his tastebuds. After a year of only eating canned fish, instant ramen and other preserved and canned stuff, real food tasted like heaven on earth. Only Sera's voice brought him back to reality:
"So, what's your ability?" She asked with curiosity written all over her face.
Quickly finishing chewing and swallowing the food in his mouth, Zane answered:
"I control blood."
"Woah, scary!" Exclaimed Sera.
Usually, Valiants try to hide, or at least don't make their abilities obvious, but Zane thought there is no need for that, since now he was a part of their cohort.
"You awakened in the supermarket before, right?" Continued Covan.
Zane needed a few seconds to answer, because he was devouring the plate of food way too greedily.
"Yeah, and... Oh yeah, how many people are in your cohort?" He asked, looking at Arni with questioning eyes.
"With you, there are four now." There was still a smile on his face as he was looking at Zane, who nearly choked on his food.
He blinked, then asked after successfully avoiding suffocation:
"What?"
"Well, we used to have three more, but they died in the supermarket." He explained.
"No, wait... How many members do the other cohorts have?" Zane's face showed a confounded expression.
"Usually around 15 to 20. Geraul's one has twenty-two. But they take in anyone who wants to join them. On the other hand, I only accept those who I actually want to fight alongside with, or seem to be quite strong." Arni's face turned to a more serious expression by now.
Now, only one question was lingering in Zane's mind:
"And you are still on par with them?"
Arni seemed to think for a bit, then said:
"I guess we used to be weaker even when we only had six people, so now without you we would've definitely been much below them, but thanks to the successful recruitment, it seems that we regained our previous standing"
Zane seemed like he needed to process some things, so he avoided asking other questions and just continued on with his meal.
...
As they finished their meals and walked over to the entrance of the cafeteria, they were about to part ways, but just before that, Arni said:
"Oh and Zane, we are gonna have a scavenge tomorrow. Let's meet at the entrance at 10 o'clock. Also, I'll arrange your room for you underground near us, but that's only gonna happen by tomorrow, so you'll have to stay in the upper part for today."
Zane nodded and they parted ways.
On his way back to his room, Zane came across many people, but for some reason, they all had the same deadpan expression written on their faces. A weird sense of melancholy plagued his mind. He was usually dismissive about these kinds of things, but for some reason today was different. Trying to understand this feeling, he remembered his first year of the apocalypse, which he spent in here.
He was really clueless back then. Thinking someone's gonna save them one day from this hell, he hoped and waited. He was also one of those ignorant people who just didn't want to come to terms with what happened. It took him a year to realise that if he didn't save himself, nobody else is going to do that for him.
He liked to go through this thought process every once in a while, to just reignite this feeling of drive that propelled him forward to keep on fighting and grow stronger. As he replaced the melancholy on his face with straight determination, he arrived at his room. He hesitated for a moment, then stepped in.
"Alright... Let's begin."
He was not going to be wasting any time, since he still had some things to do before tomorrow's scavenge to make sure he could at least be a bit more efficient with his ability.