Reference points here are primarily to Tom Poes -- many of that strip's storylines start with the title character simply wandering, through the woods, fields, etcetera. As an homage, I invoke the structure of that first Tom Poes strip directly -- the protagonist wanders through the woods, encounters a mysterious stranger, and observes them from behind a tree.
Some thoughts on things left unaddressed: Avi is a reporter for a local newspaper, The National News. (A little joke, there, you see.) Contemporaneous stories about "girl reporter" characters tend to play up the "girl reporter" thing to extents that come across as misogynist today. I'm not interested in writing that kind of imaginary historical bigotry. I'm sure I'll address it in some way if I do any strips of her actually at work.
I imagine the newspaper at this time is understaffed, on account of the war, and they'll take anyone half-competent they can get.
I kind of settled on Avi's name before I'd realised it was more common as a Jewish men's name. If you want, you can read this implication of her being Jewish as a deliberate middle-finger to the occupying forces. That it's a men's name gives me the interesting side-effect of not having to change it when she comes out as a trans man in stories in the late 90s or early 00s.
I don't give a name to the character she encounters here in any of the strips I've drawn -- in my head it's "Ingur Lint."
It had been some time since Avi had lasten taken what she called "the shortcut" through the woods. She liked to call it that that, because it was a shortcut, and it did go through the woods, though it rarely seemed to save her any time at all. This was because Avi hated going anywhere in a straight line, and because Avi loved getting lost on her way to work. All the best people got lost.
It had been even longer still since Avi last came across something unusual in the woods. The woods had many secrets, as all woods do, but Avi, having got lost in them many times, knew almost all of them, and so very few of them left that could be something unusual, at least to Avi.
Today was, then, shaping up to be an unusual day for Avi, for Avi had come across something most unusual, as Avi had not been aware of there being a metal hatch in-between any of the bushes. Curious, as Avi was, she hid behind a tree, and watched a small, lumpy figure climb down into the hatch. Avi did not have to think for very long about what to do next.