"He had an axe," Nathan said.

"Yeah. I like being armed," Duke said, spreading his arms and taking a swig from his bottle. "I'm real funny like that when there's someone around who wants to kill me."

They glared at each other from across the room, until Vince hesitantly broke the uneasy silence.

"What now?" he asked. "Do we just --"

Thunder cracked and the power gave out completely, plunging the whole room into darkness.