Franka lead them at a steady, fast pace, following the dried up river for about half an hour, then across empty fields, in the direction of Vinxel. They crossed a few streets, and the light seeping down, the eerie blueish grey light of the hours before dawn, showed them that even in these rural parts, things must have been fierce during the outbreak, cars had collided or stood abandoned, luggage had been dropped on the spot, many were open now, had spilled their rotting content, and bones, shards of glass and other litter lay strewn everywhere.<br/><br/>A few kilometres before Vinxel would have come into sight, Franka turned away from the course that would have led them there, back towards the wood. The landscape looked beautiful, peaceful, an idyllic postcard scenery, were it not for the traces of the catastrophe nobody had removed, the lack of any signs of human life or activities, which did not allow them to forget the infected, the constant danger, the doom that had raged, was threatening to become theirs. Nature clearly prospered, wild flora had conquered what once had been controlled by humans, mingling with the plants sowed and harvested on fields and meadows over decades. A chorus of birds sang out, deer could be spotted in the distance, hares and rabbits, all the animal life that habitually came out at dawn or near it, was roaming the fields and forests.<br/><br/>Franka was a cautious guide, ever watchful, and almost soundless, as soon as she could see enough. She never said a word, motioned, gestured, expected them to follow her example when she ducked, halted, waited. Whether it was her good instinct or their good luck, or both, they had to thank for, was hard to tell, but when it was a quarter to five, and light was spreading everywhere even though they were back inside the woods, they had reached their destination safely. It took a while for them to realise that this time, Franka had not come to a halt to check her surroundings, but that the mass of brambles and ivy that they could make out in the vast clearing they had just reached must be the outer wall she had mentioned.<br/><br/>Sure enough, she whispered."I'll have to let myself in through the emergency door, but it'd be nonsense for all of us to scramble and squeeze our way in through those brambles. The real entrance is over there." She pointed. "Wait till I open it and signal it's safe to come in."<br/><br/>Without waiting for an answer, she left, soon disappearing in the shadow of the trees, her binoculars once more used frequently to scan everything. They saw her climb a tree, fast, and high up, she must have checked what she could from the area inside the wall's confinements. Apparently contented, she came down again, then disappeared behind the corner of the wall, and was out of sight. Minutes crawled by, five, ten, fifteen, twenty.  Then, there was a rustle of leaves at the spot she had indicated, and seconds later, Franka squeezed through a thicket of ivy.<br/><br/>She looked in their direction, held up her thumb, motioned for them to join her. She no longer wore the leather protection around her neck and arms, nor her leather jacket or her rucksack. She looked much thinner in that tight, sleeveless top. Her blood streaked, unprotected long neck, bare shoulders and sinewy arms clearly demonstrated how safe everything was in her opinion, more clearly than her relaxed posture or the thumbs up she had given them.