Twix watched what he supposed was some kind of militia patrol along the tall tyre wall that blocked the street some way on, In the centre a rusty old bus seemed to form some kind of entrance, he couldn't see much from the stray pile of rubble he'd concealed himself behind, closer to the wall the ground had been cleared, no doubt to stop people sneaking close in.
The two circles of glass that allowed him to see through his gas mask fogged momentarily as he breathed out deeply, he reached up touching the white bobble hat that had become a sort of good luck charm muttering under his breath as he did;
"Okay... Okay you got this"
He grimaced behind the blank face of his mask as he stood, he was still sore from where a gnarled root had been sticking into his side as he lay unmoving waiting for a rabbit or hare to leave the burrow he'd tracked down, it'd taken hours but the pair of rabbits that swung freely from the straps on the back of his jacket made it all worth it, he allowed himself a small grin of satisfaction as he contemplated them.
There was movement on the wall now as the militia took notice of his presence, hunting rifles took him in their sight and he nervously fingered the worn handle of his browning hi powered semi-automatic pistol as he crossed the open ground, his empty pistol that is.
As he neared the wall an older looking man in a dirty red jacket standing on top of the bus called out to him, a note of wariness in his voice and a burned out cigarette butt by his feet;
"Hands where we can see 'em" he paused for a moment as Twix slowly held his empty hands out in front of him, he seemed to relax some what as Twix complied.
"What's your business in Aurora's End?"
It was at this point that Twix realized he was still wearing his gas mask and that the old man who happened to have an assault rifle strapped across his back had no chance of hearing his muffled greetings with it on, he pointed to the mask and -as the old man nodded- slowly unlatched the straps round the back of his head, he latched the mask onto the front of his jacket onto a pair of specially placed clips revealing his tanned face, well the top half where the lenses of his mask let the light stray was tanned, his lower-face was a paler white making him look somewhat odd, he breathed deeply savouring the fresh air he hadn't tasted for many hours, sure he was used to mask air by now, didn't mean he had to like it.
"met some travellers out on the road, few weeks back per'aps, said this was a safe settlement, could do some trading 'ere, so 'ere I am"
The old man regarded him sternly for a moment
"These travellers... they have names?"
Twix -rubbing his face where the gas mask had pressed into it- thought for a moment, remembering.
"aye... Jane and... Oliver was it? said they was headed far east, meet up with some family or some'ing."
The old man nodded to himself and gestured to the militia, who thankfully lowered their heavy rifles.
"Aright kid, your in, don't cause any trouble, understand?"
Twix nodded as he jumped up the bus steps, the metal floor of the bus rattled loudly as he marched to the other end -no doubt the rattling was intentional, try sneaking through that!- and out the other door, which just so happened to put him inside the walls.
He was patted down by a young looking militia man before he was let off into town, They found the pistol, knife and other accessories but made no comment, they missed the $50 he had stashed in a small waterproof bag on the inside of his gas mask, after he was declared 'clear' he was directed to a make-shift tavern further into the village.
As he walked the well-cleared dirt path towards the tavern, the well named 'Pumphouse' , he kept his gaze on his feet, nervously ignoring the curious stares of the locals, if he'd been looking up he might have seen a man dressed somewhat like one of the old 'cowboys' giving him a once-over before dismissing him and walking off in the direction of the gate.
At the door to the Tavern Twix paused, breathed deeply and touched the hat, and with that he slowly entered, hoping to go unnoticed by anyone already inside.