Aretha is working with a team of female scientists to excavate a burial site that was recently discovered near Lake Superior in Canada. Following strict guidelines from indigenous groups in the area, the scientists may only collect non-human remains, despite the increasing mystery that the found bones pose. Fighting amongst themselves, some scientists want to take the bones back for carbon-dating and other testing because they believe that they may not be human, nor distant relatives of humans, because their skeletal traits more closely resemble birds or snakes. Aretha spends several nights considering what they must have uncovered, but it isn't until she overhears a conversation from Dr. Begg, an indigenous scientist, that she feels she understands the situation. Dr. Begg speaks with her grandmother on the phone, arguing that she can't give credence to native folktales over her scientific training. Suddenly, Aretha pieces together the mystery of the gravesites and all the goods buried with these bodies. Aretha runs to the burial site and begins tearing away at a wall to reveal a bounty of bones buried alongside the humanoid figures. Crushed by falling bones, Aretha injures herself, but before passing out, she hears a voice from the bones and feels a connection. Waking later in the medical tent, she is treated for her bruises and scrapes. One of her coworkers left to get help and hasn't returned since, and though everyone is troubled by this fact, Aretha and Dr. Begg know why. Dr. Begg informs the group that there is no help for them anymore, because 'they' are coming. Those creatures that enslaved humans and sacrificed them for their own burials are returning to reclaim their land and claim their bones. The ground beneath them trembles as the earth splits open and envelops them.