Meanwhile, Maggie and Hal have finally made it back to camp 2nd Mass, which really does seem to be in the midst of apocalyptic ruin. But those houses looked so nice before! And so did the field! She tells him that he has one hour. We cut to Crazy Weaver, looking at a family photo in one of the houses. Dr. Anne sneaks up on him and asks if he knew them. He didn't. She wonders what happened to them and Weaver says he heard that people from the area were herded to a camp in Stockton. But not, like, Girl Scout camp. They were nuked after their kids were taken, of course. Weaver is not enjoying this particular conversation and so asks Anne to get to it. She has some more thoughts about the unfair housing situation. Happily for him, he doesn't have to hear them, as Hal comes bounding in with news about the post-apocalyptic Scooby Gang's latest debacle.

We cut back to Pope releasing Tom's hands so that he can drink his beer, which to his surprise is cold. The Riverbottom Nightmare Gang has an old fridge running off their "genny." They probably have an operational KFC, too. Their setup really is pretty awesome. Tom works his way over to the stage and answers Pope's questions about his kids. He tells him about Ben who was, as we know, seen in a group a few days ago heading toward Acton. How convenient that the Skitters and their enslaved children are heading on the exact same route as our heroes! Pope notes that Maggie saw a group of harnessed kids down by the hospital a few days ago. Seriously, these people are just full of useful information! If you discount his mental disorder, Pope should really be running the whole resistance. Pope suggests to Tom that he find Ben and put him out of his misery, because being harnessed is no way to live. He has two kids -- a boy and a girl, who are...or were...with their mother in Florida. Pope then calls Tom on the fact that they're here having a good conversation and he's totally sneaking his way toward the stage and trying to grab Billy's weapon. No more beers for Tom. He notes that Pope has implied that he doesn't have an opportunity for rich conversation with his men and Pope replies that the last book any of them ever read had a dog named Spot in it. If he joins the resistance, they can read A Tale of Two Cities as their first official book club selection. Pope laughs off the resistance, even though Tom says that he'd be an asset to them since he apparently knows how to kill Skitters. Pope is convinced that things are going one way -- down -- and that Tom's hopes of defeating the Skitters with his porcupine tactics are all just fairy tales.