Two ancient pickups rumbled to a stop. The men and women who got out of the trucks had smeared their faces with white chalk dust. Most had shaved their heads. They all carried guns.

"That's him, with the long hair. That's Dead Eric," said Vincent, pointing toward the last man to exit the vehicle.

Rafferty had never seen the Pale Crew before. They lived far to the north, and only came down to the Ring when they felt like raiding something. Their leader, Dead Eric, had supposedly died eleven times, and been reanimated by the light of the moon, or some nonsense like that. She'd heard stories that they were cannibals who carried their victims away to eat them, but Rafferty assumed that those were just lies people told their kids to get them to behave.

Looking at them now, she wasn't so sure.

The group of maybe-cannibals stood around for a few minutes, and seemed to be getting impatient, when another vehicle appeared to the east.

"Alex always makes them wait," Vincent muttered under his breath.

It was the sort of truck that Gus said used to deliver packages, except it was painted bright red. On the side there was a symbol, an A with an M tucked inside. Rafferty still thought it looked like a grinning face displaying sharp, sharp teeth.

A couple of men stepped out of the new truck, raising guns. The Pale Crew raised their weapons in response. Apparently, these guys didn't trust each other much.

Alex with Malice exited the truck, a duffel bag in his right hand. He raised his other hand, and his men lowered their weapons. Rafferty noticed that the Pale Crew did not.

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Rafferty had never seen Alex in real life before, either. He seemed taller than in the pictures. Alex walked over to Dead Eric like he owned the place and shook his hand. He opened the bag, just a bit, offering a peek inside, and then clapped Eric on the shoulder. That didn't seem to sit too well with the Pale Crew because it resulted in a fresh wave of gesturing with weapons.

Once that was settled, the two spoke for a few minutes. Alex did most of the talking. Rafferty thought he looked like someone in the middle of selling something.

"They haven't really said anything important yet," said Vincent, watching them with binoculars.

"How do you know?" asked Holden, D Hall's lanky striker.

"Because I can sort of read lips," said Vincent.

Alex held out the bag to Dead Eric, who went to take it.

"Yeah, it's just banter. He just said something about 'Showoff Goof Face," said Vincent.

"Maybe 'Show of Good Faith?" asked Sheridan, treading a line between irritated and helpful.

"I admit that's more likely," replied Vincent.

Eric took the bag. He tipped his head back, and made a sound, somewhere between a howl and a moan. It carried across the Breaks. Cody was standing next to her, and Rafferty felt her shiver.

Yep, they definitely eat people.

The Pale Crew scrambled back into their trucks. Rafferty heard the engines start.

Alex gestured playfully, and called something after them. Vincent translated, and this time, Rafferty thought he got it right.

Have fun.

"We follow," said Jason, and the group began to divide.

The plan was that if they witnessed anything particularly provocative, they would intervene right then and there. Failing that, the group would split, follow both sets of bad guys, and see what they could learn that way.

Rafferty moved toward the group that was packing up to follow the Pale Crew, mostly because she was standing on that side already.

Vincent grabbed her arm.

"You stay with me," he said.

But the bag is going that way. If there's action, it will be in that direction.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Vincent cut her off.

"I don't want to let Alex out of my sight. Alex is the sort of guy who's always two steps ahead of everyone else. Whatever's happening here, it's his plan, not theirs."

They packed quickly, but didn't rush, not wanting to emerge from behind the rocks too soon. Even as the trucks drove out of sight, they'd be able to follow the tire marks.

The other group had already started after the Pale Crew when Vincent saddled his horse and pronounced them ready to go. Rafferty looked after their target, which was already approaching the horizon. The red truck was going very fast, so fast Rafferty thought it might tip.

She was about to say something about that to Vincent when, off to her right, the world changed colors.

Everything was bright. Much too bright.