Along the way, the raiders and their captives encounter razed forests and vast fields of failed maize crops, alongside villages decimated by an unknown disease. They then encounter an infected little girl who prophesies the end of the Mayan world. Arriving in the city, the captives are divided; the women are sold into slavery while the men are escorted to the top of a pyramid where they are brutally sacrificed to appease the gods. As Jaguar Paw is laid out on the altar, a solar eclipse occurs and the Mayans take the event as an omen that the gods are satisfied, thereby sparing the remaining captives. However, the remaining captives are taken by the raiders to their barracks to be used as target practice; the raiders offer them freedom if they can dodge the missiles thrown at them. The first pair of captives to attempt the run are easily struck down. Jaguar Paw follows thereafter and, though wounded by an arrow, he successfully escapes after killing Zero Wolf's son Cut Rock.
