Replanted Remastered

Family

Waiting.

On the front porch of Dave Estate, Alice and Sweetpea sat together, awaiting their friends' return. Just as planned.. though, with one missing part.

"We were too fucking late. I can't believe we were too- fucking- late." Alice folded their arms on their knees, resting their chin atop them. "All of this, everything- everything we did was for nothing,"

Sweetpea hugged Alice's leg, gently rubbing it in an attempt to soothe them. They gently brushed him away, then put their head in their hands. Sweetpea frowned and pattered away, disappearing from their view. After a few moments, he started poking at Alice's leg. They ignored him, turning their head away from his direction. It took a slap to the calf for them to give him their attention.

"What is it??" they asked, irritated. Sweetpea had retrieved a comic from their bag and handed it to them. Sunshine girl #8. Markus' favorite. "Oh. I never finished it,"

There was a pause.

"..For Markus?" they mumbled. Sweetpea nodded. Alice stared at the comic in their hands. "..I'd even read a comic as sucky as this one for him, now,"

Alice quietly read the remainder of Sunshine Girl #8 to Sweetpea, paying careful attention to each word.

"'You'll never defeat me, Sunshine girl, for I am the Moonlight Mistress!' Hey, Sweetpea, didn't Moonlight die in like- comic five?"

Sweetpea shrugged.

"Weird. 'Your puny friends can't save you now, for I've been..-' wait, what? '-I've been messing about in time!'"

Sweetpea raised an eyebrow as Alice flipped to the next page.

"Hey, it's- it's Chomp Queen! She's back!" Alice pointed at the regal chomper printed on the pages, with Sweetpea chirping in glee in reply. "She's.. oh, oh no! She and Cerise are captured! What's Sunshine gonna do?" they flipped rapidly through the pages, their excitement racing as they watched their favorite comic hero realize her friends were in danger, just to swoop in and rescue them.

As their eyes scanned the final page - the final words of their favorite comic series - something clicked in their mind. "That.. was good. Maybe Markus did have good taste," Alice mumbled, holding up the comic in front of them. Sweetpea shrugged. There was a pause of silence between them. "..Can you get me my bag? I've gotta put this away,"

Sweetpea complied, dragging Alice's bag across the patio to them. They opened it just to place their comic back within.. but they paused. They stared into the contents of their bag.

They brushed past Ragz's empty chocolate chip granola bar wrappers to grab their sketchbook.

Alice picked up the sketchbook out of their backpack and flipped through the pages. There were numerous doodles of Sunshine girl, of course.. and their most recent sketch. They'd only drawn it the previous evening. It was of them and everyone. Ragz, Peter, Mink, Crazy Dave, and Pudding.

They stared at their drawing for who knows how long. "I wonder how.. I wonder how well they're doing," they eventually mumbled. They stared up in the direction of where the zombie base was located.

Smoke rose in the sky in the distance.

They were meant to turn off the machine.

With no hesitation, Alice set down their sketchbook, stood up and threw their backpack on their back. They scooped up Sweetpea and placed him on their shoulder. "Sweetpea, I'm a fucking idiot. Come on, we've gotta go! They need us!"