"RUN!" Mike screamed unnecessarily.
The four Monkees turned and ran down the path ahead of the boulder. The sides of the path were too high and smooth to climb upon, so they had no choice but to keep running.
"Oh yes run, RUN my little Monkees, run!" Captain Crocodile cackled as he watched all this from the safety of his control room. "Now watch Howie," He continued, pointing at the screen, "Here comes the good part."
Howard leaned closer to get a better look at the screen. "What's gonna happen, Captain?"
"They're going to come to the edge of the path..."
The Monkees stopped suddenly when the path ended in a deep, wide chasm. There were also sharp wooden spikes sticking up from the bottom. The path's walls went around the chasm so there was no way to skirt around it.
"Whoa! How do we cross?" Micky asked, looking around frantically.
"Look! There are ropes hanging down!" Davy exclaimed, pointing to three ropes hanging down from a beam that crossed the width of the chasm.
"Now they'll realize there are only three ropes..." The Captain told Howard.
"There are only three ropes!" Peter said, "We can't all cross at once!"
"One of them will have to wait until the other three cross..." The Captain continued. "But by then the boulder will have smashed him or knocked him into the chasm!"
"You three go first." Davy said, "I'll wait."
"No, it'll be too late." Mike said, "Climb up on my back."
"But your back..." Davy said.
"DO IT!" Mike ordered.
Davy climbed up on Mike's back and then he, Micky and Peter ran, jumped and grabbed onto the ropes dangling from the beam traversing the middle. They swung up just as the boulder came down the path and into the chasm below them.
"NOOO!" Captain Crocodile screamed as he watched the four Monkees escape death. "That wasn't part of the plan!"
"But captain..." Howard said.
"One of them was supposed to die!" He yelled at his crony.
"But Captain, you said this was a reality show. You said anything could happen and it did!" Howard said, patting him on the back.
"Yes I did, didn't I?" The captain replied, more calmly this time. "There's still plenty of opportunities for them to die, right Howie?"
"Oh yes, Captain." Howard soothed.
"I'm still a genius aren't I, Howie?"
"Yes indeed, now let me fill your glass again." Howard said as the captain turned back to the TV screen.
The Monkees swung back and forth on the ropes until they had enough momentum to reach the other side, then when Mike gave the word, he and Micky and Peter let go of the ropes and went sailing over to the other side of the chasm. They landed with a thud and Davy quickly climbed off Mike's back.
"You ok, Mike?" Davy asked quickly.
"I've been better." Mike replied with a wince.
"Thank you, Mike." Davy said quietly, patting Mike on the shoulder. "I owe you."
"I'll make a note of it." Mike replied dryly, causing everyone to chuckle, but the moment was broken as the sound of the dogs came to their ears.
"We can't stay here." Micky said, getting to his feet. "Which way now?"
"My map is useless." Peter said with disgust, as he threw it away. "It led us into a trap."
"Our maps are probably wrong too." Mike replied, painfully standing as well, "The Captain isn't going to give us a break."
"We should at least try to head north." Davy said as he and Peter stood up too. "That's where the boat is docked."
"If there's a boat in the first place." Micky said.
"Well, we gotta try." Mike said, He started to reach inside his sack for the compass, then pulled his hand out. "The compasses will probably be wrong so..." He looked at his watch and then at the sky. "It's the afternoon so the sun is setting in the west, so that way is north." Mike pointed to the right.
"Then let's go." Micky said as the four unwilling participants in Captain Crocodile's game moved on.