It was still early when I got there, the sun only just clearing the horizon, but the air was already thick with heat, and the smell of the sea – a putrid mixture of salt and oil and rotting flesh – was growing stronger as the temperature rose.

Caught anything yet? I asked Starry, clambering up onto the wall and sitting down next to him.

He shook his head. Its getting harder every day, Jeet. Everything out there is dying.

I gazed out at the sea. The ruins of the old sea wall arent that close to the waters edge – between 25 and 40 yards away, depending on the tide – but its not safe to be any closer. As well as the stinking black mud on the shoreline that can suck you down into its depths in seconds, there are all kinds of dangers in the shallows. The great black jawfish usually only hunt in the open seas, but if theyre hungry enough theyre sometimes forced to venture closer to the shore, and theyve been known to leap from the sea after prey. But the far greater risk comes from the giant eels that lie in wait for hour upon hour just below the surface of the oily black mud, waiting with mindless patience for the slightest sound or vibration to indicate a possible meal – usually a towndog or some other scavenger searching the beach for scraps. The eels are naturally nocturnal hunters, and they usually let their prey come as close as possible before launching their attack, but – as with the jawfish – their behavior is dictated by their levels of hunger, and over the years theyve become more and more brazen, often hunting during the day, and not always prepared to just lie in wait. Theyre becoming active predators, lunging out of the mud and slithering across the beach with astonishing speed after their prey, and theyle go after anything that moves. A fullgrown giant eel is a massively powerful creature – up to 25 feet long and 3 feet thick – and theyre perfectly capable of hunting down and killing a man. Theyre also capable of traveling far enough on land to reach the edges of town. Only a few nights ago, a 3-year-old boy was taken by an eel just a few yards from his home on the Beach Road.

Which is why Starry always fishes from the same 12-foot section of ruined wall. As well as being a relatively safe distance from the shoreline, its also the highest remnant of all the ruins, putting him 20 feet above the beach. And the one thing a giant eel cant do is climb.