Replanted CLASSIC (PVZ)

A potato flew around my room before you came,

"Alice, I'm going out to help mum, stay here,"
"You sure you have to go out?"

"I'll be fine, Alice. I'm doing it for you and Markus, aren't I?"

"Yeah, I guess so,"

"Love you, Al!"

"Love you, Stella,"

Alice sat up in their room, looking out their window at the lawn below. There, their mother and their older sister, Stella, were planting a new garden defense- as last night's had all been eaten away.

Their mother; a short, squat woman with deep brown skin and curly black hair, was the best gardener they'd ever known. She specialized in pea-type plants, and the front lawn was littered with repeaters, snow peas, and rare split-pea plants.

Everyone in Alice's family looked a little different. Stella took after her father; straight, long hair, but had her mother's eyes. Alice much more resembled their mother, with the same button nose, same wide eyes, same puffy, curly hair. They'd be nearly identical if it weren't for Alice's albinism. Pale skin, white hair, blue eyes. If you put them next to their family, you could barely tell if they were related.

"Hey, Sweetpea," Alice whispered, looking over at the sleeping Repeater in his pot. He barely stirred. Alice snapped their fingers at him. "Sweetpea! Come on Sweetpea, it's almost eleven!"

The Repeater snapped awake and turned grumpily to Alice, who was sitting with their chair to the window.

"You always look silly when you're tired," said Alice. "Come on, wanna see if you can shoot a zombie from the window?"

Sweetpea perked up at the thought of shooting things- quickly jumping out of his pot and onto the windowsill, leaning out the window and looking around.

"Oh. Sorry Sweetpea, there aren't any here yet," Alice sighed.

Sweetpea climbed back through the window and sat against his pot on Alice's desk. Alice peered through the window down at their family below. Alice spotted their mother tending to a new plant near the front of the lawn. Alice squinted to get a better view. When their mother finally moved out of the way, Alice saw that the new plant was a lovely sunflower. Sunflowers were a rare sight in the Macro family lawn.

"This is boring, isn't it, Sweetpea?" said Alice. Sweetpea nodded and climbed back into his pot. "If we were allowed out on the lawn; you'd be the best Repeater out there, I know it,"

Sweetpea laid his head back over the edge of his pot, looking upside-down through the window.

"But it'd be far too dangerous."

Alice stood up and walked over to their bed, flopping face-down onto it. The house was unbearably quiet; it was always that way. Silent.

"I wish mom would let me have another plant of my own, don't you?" said Alice. "All her plants end up eaten, why not save one or two? At least we'd have another friend,"

The house wasn't empty- even if it felt that way. Alice's brother, Markus, was in the room across from them- but he never came out any more. He'd shut himself in when the zombies first invaded, and refused to leave since. Alice hadn't heard his voice in ages, let alone seen him. Stella sliding meals under his door was commonplace.

Alice stood up and walked across the hall to his door; they'd memorized the knock. Four knocks to prove you're human, since zombies can't count past three.

"Come on Markus, I know you're in there," they yelled through the door. "You can at least talk to me!"

Alice heard rustling noises, then Markus slid a note under his door. After weeks of trying to talk to him, this was new.

"Go away. Goober and I are good on our own."

Goober was Markus's potato mine. When Markus shut himself in, he shut Goober in with him. Goober and Sweetpea used to be friends, but lost contact pretty quickly.

"You can't hide in there forever! I haven't seen you in ages!"

Again, Alice heard the same scratching of Markus's old blue pen on scraps of paper. He slid another messy note under the door.

"You can come in if you can convince me the zombies are gone."

"How am I supposed to- ugh. You're just like dad."

Alice huffed, walking back into their room and slamming the door. Sweetpea was at the window, shooting at something. Alice looked out to see that the nearly daily invasion had started again. It had happened so many times before that Alice stopped worrying about them getting in; Stella and mom would always stop them.

Alice layed back down on their bed, staring up at the ceiling above them. They were safe inside, but it was ever so boring.

So, so boring.

Alice woke up to Sweetpea slapping them frantically in the face with his leaves; desperately waking them up.

"..What is it, Sweetpea?" Alice asked groggily, slumping out of bed. Sweetpea ran over to the window and started shooting wildly out of it. Alice walked over and looked through the window.

They were met with their mother's blood curdling scream.

Zombies were crowding the house, scratching at the door and trying to bust in. Stella was nowhere to be seen. Alice's mother had been lost within the group.

Alice threw open their bedroom door, and started pounding on Markus's. "MARKUS! MARKUS THEY'RE BREAKING IN!" they screamed. They winced at the sound of breaking glass. The zombies were in.

Alice slammed their fists into the door, Sweetpea standing at their side facing the stairs leading to the kitchen. He was ready to defend. Alice quickly felt the door open and they were dragged inside- with Sweetpea clutching to their leg.

"..Markus,"

"Man, I nearly forgot what you looked like,"

Markus's room was a terrible mess; dirty dishes cluttering his desk, the floor, his bed, everywhere. Goober sat in his pot, surrounded by garbage and crumpled napkins. The room reeked of body odor and food waste.

"I've spent all my time securing that door, so it should hold them off while I prepare," explained Markus. His voice was hoarse and almost unrecognizable. "I knew this day was coming, I just didn't know when,"

Markus himself didn't look how Alice remembered him either. His normally soft black hair was greasy and tangled, and his once bright eyes were sunken and crusty. He was a mess.

"Stella and mom are gone-" said Alice quickly, cut off by the scratching at the door. Sweetpea stood in front of Alice and their older brother, ready to attack anything that came through. Markus picked up Goober out of his pot.

"I think you'll finally get to blow up today, Gooby," said Markus. "Get ready to jump out the window, okay?"

"Wait, we're going to-"

"I LOVE YOU GOOBER!" Markus shouted, throwing Goober at the floor by the door. Goober exploded on contact- blowing up the door, the wall, bits of the floor, and all the zombies next to it.

"Okay, grab Sweetpea, I'll help you get out," said Markus. Alice scooped Sweetpea off the floor and rushed over to Markus's open window. "Try to land over the fence and run to the sidewalk- GO GO! RUN!"

Zombies were still coming up the stairs and we're slowly making their way into the room. Alice tumbled out the open window, landing on- And then falling on the other side of the fence. Alice looked up to the window- waiting for Markus to jump through.

Alice waited on the sidewalk, looking up at their brother's window. They didn't want to believe he was gone. They kept expecting to see him jump out and run with them.

Markus never came.