His boots were mostly ruined, the already inflexible soles robbed of any cushioning by being melted flat. The outer covering had gone at both toes and heels, with the curved steel inserts showing through. He’d emptied them of water and wrung his thick socks out, but he’d had no choice but to put them on again, wet. It made it difficult to walk. They were already rubbing, and he’d have blisters soon.

Stanislav, despite having all the same problems and injuries, seemed to be immune to their effects. He strode out, greeting each new vista with undisguised glee, even though the landscape appeared devoid of any sign of human activity.

Dalip trudged up the loose bank at the back of the bay, stones rattling under his feet and sliding down the slope behind him. Stanislav was already at the top, hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the bright sky, scanning inland.

‘Can you see anything?’

‘Lots of things.’

He was right. There was a great deal to see: to their left, there was a high ridge that ended as the sea-cliff, and started in a tall mountain in the far blue-hazed distance. Ahead was a broad valley, a river cutting and recutting its way across the flat land in a series of braided channels. To their right, hills, backed again by more than one mountain peak.

There were short scrubby bushes up the slope to the headland, mixed in with one or two stunted trees. Inland, the trees grew taller and more numerous until they became a forest.

There were no houses, no walls nor fences nor fields, no roads nor tracks nor paths, no cows nor sheep nor pigs nor goats, no structures close by nor far away, no spires of smoke nor mechanical sounds. It was just them, and the wind, and the birds overhead.

And the sea monster behind them. Dalip looked over his shoulder, just to make sure.

‘Where is everyone?’

Stanislav frowned. ‘What do you see?’

‘Nothing. There’s nothing at all.’

‘Then what do you think?’

‘That there’s no one here? That can’t be true.’

‘So you know where we are?’

‘No.’

‘Then how do you know that it cannot be true?’

Dalip pressed his hands together, felt the burns and scalds, felt the clarity of his pain. ‘Do you know where we are?’

‘All I know is that we are somewhere which has big snakes swimming in the sea. Have you heard of a place like that?’ Stanislav watched for his reaction closely.

‘There is nowhere like that. Not …’ Dalip gave up. He wasn’t going to say it. He wasn’t going to let the words come out of his mouth.