Hal gets up to take some dishes to the sink, but Tessa tells him that he gets a pass on chores tonight since he's new. Lourdes mocks Tessa the same way that Karen used to mock Lourdes for being on Hal's jock. Lourdes goes to grab her jacket and her eye catches a bag with a Ski Blue Hills patch on it. She opens it and finds the name, "Eli Russell." Oh my God, Lourdes was finally just good for something. She's going to ruin all the goodwill she's engendered in about fifteen minutes, but for now I'm marginally cool with her and her observational skills.

As Hal is outside surveying the scene, Tessa comes out to flirt with him. She asks what he sees in the sky and he says, "Stars. Captain Kick-Ass up there." They laugh even though that's totally dumb. That's what you do when you want to get laid. Hal knows that the Farm of Doom is ostensibly off the Skitter radar, but says he's surprised that there are no patrols or anything. Tessa flirts some more in response, and Hal starts talking about his dad. He says that this is the first time they've been apart since the attack. Tessa asks if he likes it there, and Hal is all, "Yeaahhh, it's nice," while giving her bedroom eyes. Just then, cockblocker extraordinaire Lourdes scurries out to get Hal's attention. It's for good reason though. Back inside, she tells Hal and Mike about discovering Eli's backpack. She remembers it from when his dad tried to rob the clinic. Mike says that he was there when Clayton let the Russells run, and that perhaps Eli dropped it. But Hal also has suspicions. He points out how odd it is that there are sentries posted on the house, and the shed's locked up tight. Nobody's watching the sky or the road, and it feels like they're more interested in watching the folks from the Second Mass. Hal and Lourdes are both, of course, totally right. But Mike says that he's known Clayton since a week after the attack. It's going to take more than a backpack and suspicious looks to convince him that anything is awry. He tells Hal and Lourdes to go to bed, and that this will look better by morning.

BUT! Mike is smarter than he gives himself credit for, and so under the cover of darkness he heads off to check out the locked shed. As someone watches him covertly, he picks the lock and goes inside. Soon he comes across a pile of kid things, including a jacket with the name "Eli Russell" written inside. That kid really was afraid of losing his stuff, huh? Mike hears a click and turns, and there is Clayton pointing a gun at him. Clayton says that he always liked Mike, which is why he's going to talk instead of shoot, at least for the moment. He sets down his gun and says that the short answer is that Eli Russell was there. The long answer, of course, goes into a whole other universe of fucked-up-ness. Clayton says he can't even begin to tell Mike what it was like when the Seventh Mass went down. Skitters came after them like locusts, and tore them to pieces. The folks on the farm are the only people who survived the raid, and the Skitters were hot on their trail. They'd retreat and defend, but the Skitters kept coming.