Replanted Remastered

Inane Ramblings

"Mom always said this thing was garbage, but it's the only information we have," Alice said, sniffling as they dug out the dingy old government-assigned 'Official guide to protecting your brains' paperback book that their mother had tossed in a cupboard and ignored once they received it. Sweetpea was visibly doubtful, sitting with his leaves crossed and brows furrowed on the kitchen table as Alice sat next to him with the book.

"It's better than nothing, okay? There has to be at least something useful in here." Alice opened the first page; their hopes were dashed once they read the phrase 'Help is (possibly) coming* *but probably not.'

The table of contents was groan worthy, with such incredibly useful information such as "What is a zombie?" and "Have my brains been eaten?". Despite these signs that the guide book was the garbage their mother believed it to be, something about it caught their eye.

A small note scribbled by the top of the page, reading "Crazy Dave woz 'ere."

Alice's face lit up upon reading it. "Hey, Sweetpea, look at this!" Alice said, turning the guide book to face him and pointing at the note. Sweetpea looked at it, raising an eyebrow. "Crazy Dave wrote in our book!"

Alice had heard stories about Crazy Dave for as long as they could remember. Everyone knew about the insane miracle man who always managed to stop the zombies in time.

Sweetpea's eyebrows raised in surprise. He flipped past the page, pointing out another peculiar sight. A large paper note was taped within the guide book: "Crazy Dave's much, much better guide to protecting your brains." It contained it's own table of contents, including information about plants.

"Oh, this is so cool! Maybe this thing isn't gonna be useless,"

Sweetpea hopped up on Alice's shoulder and read alongside them as they leafed through the guide book. They ignored most of the "information" that the book was made for - they already knew all of that simple garbage anyway, they mainly kept reading for the small notes left within. There were even some pictures of Crazy Dave himself, each with funny little captions.

Eventually, they got to the taped-in section of the book that Dave had labelled his "much, much better guide." There were dozens of pages on different zombie-fighting plants.

"Crazy Dave really knows his stuff, huh," Alice said as they turned past page after page of - for once - actually useful information. "Well, of course he would. He's not the most well-known gardener in Neighborville for no reason,"

Aside from the copious info on plants, there were miscellaneous tips for time-killing and time-traveling.. all of which were useless, though at the very least they were entertaining. Alice was almost disappointed when they turned the final page in Dave's section and returned to the actual guide book. They flipped through the pages once more, looking at Crazy Dave's notes.. and then it was done.

"Well.. that was pretty pointless." Alice lifted Sweetpea off their shoulder, setting him down on the table. "I already knew most of that stuff about plants, and that section was the only half-decent one,"

Sweetpea grabbed the guide book, looking over the back cover. He grabbed Alice's finger and pointed at a spot in the corner. Alice glanced at where he pointed to, and their face lit up- it was an address!

"Number 13, Cherrywood Lane, Neighborville.. Introduce yourself as part of the 'Grawrr Bear fanclub'..? Cherrywood is pretty close to here, isn't it?" Alice said. Sweetpea shrugged. "Do you think that's Crazy Dave's address?"

Sweetpea shrugged again, opening up the book and turning back to Dave's page on repeaters. "Well, if he wrote it down, it ought to be important. Maybe we should go there and check it out." Sweetpea stopped looking fondly at the image of his kind to stare at Alice, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Sweetpea, we can't hide inside forever. We were gonna have to leave this house eventually,"

Sweetpea seemed a bit worried, but also excited. He hopped off the table, scurrying out of the kitchen and up the stairs to Alice's room. They had some preparing to do.

Back in their room, they donned a navy blue hoodie and their bright green hi-tops. They grabbed their checkerboard-print backpack and filled it with supplies, including a spare change of clothes alongside their hair wrap for sleep, their toothbrush, two water bottles, a bag of plant food for Sweetpea, and some chocolate chip granola bars for themself. With space to spare, they packed a sketchbook and a small pencil case of art supplies, as well as some of their favorite comics. -And Sunshine Girl #8. They still hadn't finished it, after all.

Scribbled-on guide book in hand, Alice turned to Sweetpea. "You ready to head out on our own, buddy?" they said. Sweetpea gave a small salute in reply. "I'm taking that as a yes!" Sweetpea hopped up on their shoulder and they left Alice's room.

Alice stopped in front of Markus's room. It felt wrong seeing the door open after all the time of it being shut and locked. They stepped within once more, not caring about the smell.. they just wanted a final look. Dirty clothes and old dishes cluttered the room; covering his bed, floor, and.. desk. There was something odd on his desk.

They approached his desk, finding a few scattered polaroid photos alongside a quickly-written note.

"I have no time

theyre here mom and stella are trying to fight them but theyre fucked

alice if youre reading this and you probably arent but sweetpea is fighting down there hes protecting you

I escaped I jumped out the window and I ran away I dont know where Im going but Im go"

The note ended there. Among the photos - most of which were blurry and horribly rushed - was an image of Markus, showing the clothes he was wearing before he escaped. Green, camo-print hoodie, yellow t-shirt, blue jeans. He looked like a wreck.

"..Markus is alive," Alice murmured. They turned to Sweetpea, who looked back silently. They both looked out the open window.

"Okay, new plan. We're gonna find Crazy Dave, and then we're gonna find Markus."