George enters the Morlocks' subterranean caverns and is horrified to discover that the Eloi are the free range livestock for the cannibalistic Morlocks. After finding Weena, he begins fighting the creatures. His efforts inspire other Eloi, who begin to defend themselves. George sets a fire and urges the Eloi to clamber out of the caverns to the surface, where he directs them to gather dry tree branches and drop them down the shafts. Smoke billows out of the shafts, and the subterranean cavern later collapses.
The next morning, George finds the sphinx in charred ruins and its doors open. His time machine sits just inside, a trap set by the Morlocks. He enters, the doors close, and he is attacked in the dark. George sends his time machine hurtling into the past, returning to 1900. It comes to rest on the lawn outside his house, where his story ends.