"Oh, there's much more to come, Monkees." Captain Crocodile sneered, watching them move on. He then put down his glass of wine and picked up a walkie-talkie.
"Calling task force one, calling task force one." The captain said.
"Task force one here, boss." A man's voice answered.
"Your prey has escaped the pit and has gone off the path, heading north-north west." The Captain replied.
"Thanks, boss." The man replied. "The signal was growing weak."
"And remember...just kill one of them at a time. It's no fun if they all die at once."
"You got it, boss." The man replied, with an evil chuckle.
The Captain chuckled too and put the walkie-talkie down. He looked at the screen.
"Where are they now?" Captain Crocodile asked Howard.
"Not sure, Captain." Howard replied, checking the other monitors. "They've gone into a densely wooded area where the cameras can't see."
"It doesn't matter." The captain replied, taking a puff of his cigar, "They're bound to be spotted by one of the cameras soon. I want to see what happens when they think they're safe."
Howard nodded and went back to checking the monitors.
*********
Meanwhile, the four Monkees stopped and threw themselves to the ground, exhausted. They had purposely gone into the deep woods where there would be less chance of cameras, but going off the path had made the travel much more difficult. They were all cut and scratched from pushing through the undergrowth.
"I don't see any cameras here." Mike panted as he looked up into the trees.
"He can't have them everywhere." Davy replied, gulping for air.
"Let's rest here." Micky told the others as they came to a small clearing.
The four men collapsed onto the ground, but keeping their eyes open for any traps. When all seemed clear, Peter spoke to the others.
"I'm really sorry about all this, fellas." He said quietly, "I should've just thrown that letter from WXIU in the trash."
"It's not your fault, Peter." Mike replied, "We all were suckered in at the thought of a free vacation."
"If we hadn't fallen for his trap, the Captain would've found another way to bring us here." Micky added.
"I'm thirsty." Davy said, reaching over for his sack. He was about to open the sack, when he felt something moving inside it. Davy quickly threw it to the side.
"What's the matter, Davy?" Mike asked.
"There's something alive inside my sack." Davy replied with a gulp.
Mike, Peter and Micky carefully felt their own sacks but felt nothing suspicious.
"Our sacks appear to be ok, Davy." Micky told him.
Carefully, Davy grabbed the bottom of his sack and flung it against a tree. The sack opened and a snake slithered out, hissing at the intrusion. The four Monkees stood up in fear as the snake hissed at them, then slithered away into the brush.
"A snake." Peter stammered, "Captain Crocodile put a snake in Davy's sack."
"It's a good thing you felt it moving, Davy." Mike said, "It would've bit you if you had opened your sack."
"And no doubt it was poisonous." Micky added.
Peter just stood there with his head in his hands. Mike walked up to him.
"You ok, Peter?" Mike asked.
Peter looked up, his face wet with tears.
"This is too much, how can we survive if Captain Crocodile keeps this up?" Peter cried.
"Peter we are surviving, and we're going to survive." Davy said sternly, joining Mike, "We'll get out of this and Captain Crocodile will be punished."
"We outwitted him before and we'll do it again." Micky added, joining the others.
The four men came together and embraced in a group hug. When they parted, Mike spoke.
"I think we better check each of our sacks carefully before we go on." He said.
So Mike took his sack and flung it against a tree. It opened and inside was a map, granola bars, a length of rope, and a canteen of water. Thankfully, there wasn't a snake inside.
Peter did the same with his sack as Mike did. He had opened his sack before, but wasn't taking any chances. Inside his sack was food and water, Peter having thrown away his map earlier.
Micky then tossed his sack open and found food, water, matches and a small black box about as big as cigarette pack. Frowning, he picked it up and looked at it. It felt warm and appeared to be slightly humming.
"I wonder what this is?" Micky asked.
Mike took it from Micky's hand. "I think it's a transmitter."
"A transmitter?" Davy replied, "That means they can find us anywhere!"
"I think it's time we started to be a little devious ourselves." Micky said.
"What do you mean, Micky?" Peter asked.
Micky smiled and told the other Monkees his plan.
*******
The men chasing the Monkees, all six of them and their dogs, came upon the clearing the Monkees had been in just a short time before. The signal from the transmitter had led them to this spot.
"Be careful now." One of them said, looking at his homing device, "It appears they've stopped. They may be planning on making a stand."
"They're fools if they try." One of the snickered, pulling out his pistol.
Another man spotted something in the clearing and began to walk over to it.
"Hey, they must've found the transmitter." He said, disappointed, "They left it here on these leaves."
"Watch out now, Stu." The man with the homing device said.
"Take it easy, John." Stu said, walking over to the transmitter, "Those city boys..."
Stu got no further as his foot fell through a shallow hole hidden by the leaves. When he pulled his foot out, Stu saw that his foot caught on a noose, but it was too late; by pulling on the noose he had activated the trap. The noose, attached to a bent down sapling, pulled his foot forward made him loose his balance. His head hit the ground and he was out. The other men ran over to Stu, asking him if he was alright, but Stu was out cold.
"Very clever, boys." John muttered to himself. It seemed these men they were chasing were going to offer a challenge. That was fine with him, he enjoyed the chase. Suddenly, his walkie-talkie came alive.
"Task Force one, This is the boss. I just found them again on my TV screens and all four of them are still alive!" Captain Crocodile shouted, "What are you men doing out there?"
"I have some bad news Boss." John replied, "Stu hit his head and is out cold and those Monkees found the transmitter."
"Oh well, it was only a matter of time before they found it." The Captain replied, "Now go after the Monkees!"
"But Boss, Stu's injured..." John said.
"I don't care!" The Captain interrupted sharply, "Those boys are heading toward the canyon, now get after them!" The line went dead.
"Yes sir." John replied, his military training taking over his feelings for his injured team mate. He looked at the other men with him.
"Prop him up against a tree and cover him with a blanket. We're heading out."
"We're leaving him?" A man asked.
"We don't have time to get him back to the resort, so let's get a move on." John answered.
The others did what John told them, and soon the men, now numbering five, were once again after the Monkees.