She didn’t, but neither did she want to touch the cold, slimy things with dark, unblinking eyes. She changed the subject. ‘What was that noise just now?’

‘Some kind of animal? I don’t know.’ She looked down at the remaining fish at the river’s edge. ‘I do know that those aren’t going to carry themselves.’

‘But what sort of animal? I mean: there was that big snake in the sea. What if there are more on land?’

‘Dinosaurs,’ said Grace. ‘The boy with the turban was worried about dinosaurs.’

‘So what does a dinosaur sound like?’

‘No one knows. They’ve been dead for millions of years.’ She too stared pointedly at the fish. ‘We don’t need to worry about dinosaurs. Just those.’

Defeated, Mary forced her painted nails one by one into the gills, until she had three heavy fish hanging from each hand. She held them away from her body, as far as she could, disgusted by the touch and the weight.

The animal sound cut through the air again. Mary’s stomach tightened, and she could feel her legs get ready to run. She forced herself to walk, all the way up to the tree line.

‘Seriously,’ she said, as she laid the fish out on the ground and wondered where she was supposed to wipe her fingers. ‘What the fuck is that noise?’

‘Wolves,’ said Stanislav and Dalip at the same time. They shrugged at each other, and Stanislav continued. ‘A wolf. There will be more.’

‘There aren’t any wolves in England,’ she said.

‘Then we are no longer in England,’ Stanislav said. ‘There are wolves in Europe. Perhaps we are there instead.’

‘There are plenty in North America too,’ said Dalip. ‘Though I don’t suppose that’s helpful.’

Mary drew her lips in, and on cue, the wolf – if that was what it was – howled. It was the scariest thing she’d ever heard, and she’d run in riots with the roar of voices, the barking of fighting dogs and the wail of sirens.

‘Are they dangerous? I mean, they’re wild, right?’

‘They sometimes attack people. The small, the weak, the injured.’ Stanislav crouched down and picked up a long springy twig from a pile he’d made. He poked it through both gills of a fish, and held it up. ‘We need a frame to hold these above the fire.’

Dalip nodded, and started to sort through the wood pile for suitable lumber.

‘Can we keep on talking about the wolves?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Well, what are we going to do about them?’