A no man's land, to hold the easts and wests, the norths and souths apart. The Germanys and the Koreas. It looked as if there ought to be guard turrets, land mines, Alsatian dogs and barbed tripwire. Even if Joseph and Celice were not spotted by the plane, snipers would pick them off if they were mad enough to walk out from the undergrowth. Only animals were safe.
Wood crows and pickerlings hopped across the naked soil.
Rats ran along the flooded lorry ruts to feed on roots and bulbs. Celice did not regard the clearance as a metaphor, a thick and earthy line between their futures and their pasts. She merely was depressed by what they'd found and would have turned around and gone back home if she had the choice. If her husband hadn't been so keen to reach the coast, she would have died in bed. Joseph and Celice began their trespasses.