Replanted Remastered

Pumpkin Pudding

Alice silently climbed out of the window and down the side of the house, with Sweetpea clinging to the strap of their bookbag. They hopped the fence, travelling through backyards rather than risking walking on the main street.

"It's so quiet," Alice whispered. "It's creeping me out,"

Unlike their expectations, the vast majority of yards had no plants in them. At least- no fighting plants, that was. Sure, there were many once-beautiful, now trampled flower gardens, but none of them could defend a house like Alice's old yard did.

Eventually, hopping a fence lead Alice straight onto the sidewalk. They were now standing on Applewood Street, an old road with few houses on the other side of the street. Other than the houses, the only notable feature of the other side was the start of dense forest behind them. Sweetpea sat vigilantly on Alice's shoulder, watching around for any zombies stumbling about.

"It's like the whole neighborhood is deserted.. weird,"

Alice walked along the sidewalk, checking the house numbers along the way to make sure they were heading the right way. They checked their guide book, reminding themself of their destination, then shoved it in their hoodie pocket. Applewood Street lead to Pearwood Drive which lead to Cherrywood Lane, if they remembered correctly. Whichever road they were on, they eventually reached an intersection with a gas station across the street, more houses to the right, and a steep hill to the left.

"And..that's Pearwood! We're on the right track, Sweetpea!" said Alice. They crossed the street, heading left, which would lead them up to Pearwood Drive. "If the rest of the way is this quiet, we might make it there in one piece-"

Alice was cut off by a banging noise inside a dumpster mere feet away. They froze in place, staring at it with Sweetpea ready to fire on their shoulder. They held him steady, shivering as the dumpster lid slowly creaked open.

"BRAAAINS!"

A large, helmet wearing, pickaxe wielding digger zombie tumbled out of the dumpster, dragging himself up off the ground and stumbling towards them.

Sweetpea shot at the zombie, though he was quickly out of range; Alice had taken off running through the intersection, rushing into the old gas station shop to hide. They ducked into an aisle, holding Sweetpea close as they caught their breath. They sat wheezing in place for a few moments.

"Hey, hear that? There's something in the next aisle over," said a voice from somewhere within the gas station.

The hairs on the back of Alice's neck stood on end hearing these words. There was someone else here?

A voice - presumably a plant - mumbled back in plantspeak. Quickly, the english voice retorted, "It can't be a zombie, idiot, it was too fast to be one. Unless it was a pole vaulter, or something, but who cares,"

Alice remained silent as they edged through the aisle. A few scattered chip bags lined the shelves in all sorts of weird flavor combinations. A few were marked "Nate Timely Approved." Alice and Sweetpea remained silent as they listened to the conversation in the next aisle over.

"No, Red, we can't just get Ritz crackers, you know that you're- like, the only one that eats them,"

A plant grumbled in reply.

"Hey, it's not my fault you have shit taste! We have to get some of the good stuff too, y'know. Come on, let's grab some peanut butter cups and party mix and get out of this place,"

Alice heard footsteps in the next aisle, heading towards theirs. With nowhere to hide from whoever was approaching, they froze in place, still holding Sweetpea.