Alex opened his eyes after what seemed like a few minutes. When he looked at the clock, though, he saw it had been half an hour. He then got out of bed and rubbed his eyes. It was going to take more than 30 minutes to help his sleep get back to normal.

He walked out of his room and caught a peek at Josie's room. She was still in bed, sleeping on her stomach and body stretched out. It looked like she may have been drooling, as well. And yet, it still looked kind of cute to Alex.

He then went downstairs and found his younger brother watching a movie on the TV.

"Hey," Alex simply greeted. Freddy turned around and gave a small nod in response.

Alex then sat next to his brother and watched the movie with him.

"It's kind of smart to not give your real names to strangers in the zombie apocalypse," Alex commented in regards of the movie. "Because he's right; names mean getting attached."

"Yeah, but your codename or whatever is still like a name to get used to," Freddy replied.

"I guess. But I'm glad I've seen this movie a million times; it helped a lot with surviving this last year."

"I'm sure! Especially 'Double-Tap'. That's come in handy."

"Without a doubt!"

They then chuckled. Then, awkward silence, save for the movie audio.

"You know, this is probably the first time we've had real, fun alone time as brothers in a long time," Alex pointed out.

"That's what I was thinking," Freddy agreed with a nod.

"Well, I like it. It reminds me just how much family I have left."

"Even if it's only 1 person..."

"It's better than none at all!"

"Maybe you're right..."

"Well... Let's just keep watching. They're at Bill Murray's mansion now!"

ERT! ERT! ERT! They paused the movie and ran downstairs to the basement. Crazy Dave stood by the work bench with the biggest smile on his face.

"I finally got it!" He said happily. "I got the Plant that will help us!"

He then stepped out of the way to reveal a green Plant that appeared to simply be a pale-green stalk with many dark-green leaves, save for 2 dotted eyes in the stalk.

"This is Umbrella Leaf," Dave explained. "His big, strong leaves will protect itself, as well as all other Plants one space away from it, from overhead attacks, including basketballs and Bungees!"

"Perfect!" Alex said happily.

"About time!" Freddy scoffed.

Alex ignored him and sat down to plant. Now that he had Umbrella Leaf, he had a different setup in mind.

He planted the Sunflowers along the back column, as usual, but in front of the second Sunflowers from the top and from the bottom, he planted Umbrella Leaves; that way they'd be protected if there were any more Catapult Zombies.

When Regular Zombies began approaching, he planted Cabbage-Pults in front of the first available Flower Pot in the row, whether it was in front of a Sunflower or an Umbrella Leaf. When the Cone Heads came, he planted Kernel-Pults in front of the Cabbage-Pults.

Soon, as expected, another Catapult Zombie rolled onto the roof. It then began launching basketballs at the Sunflowers in the back, but the boys cheered when the Umbrella Leaves near the flowers seemed to grow and their leaves surrounded them, blocking the ball!

The zombie kept launching balls, but they were no match for the leafy power of the Plants! By the time the Sunflower would have been destroyed, enough cabbages and kernels and butter were launched to blow the cart to Kingdom Come!

Soon, Ladder Zombies approached to add to the trouble. Luckily, Magnet-Shrooms and Coffee Beans managed to take it off their hands...literally!

Suddenly, another piece of paper with a target dropped onto one of the Magnet-Shrooms!

"Good luck," Alex mumbled to the screen with a smile. "We finally have a way to stop you!!"

He then planted an Umbrella Leaf around the Magnet-Shrooms just as the Bungee Zombie dropped down from the sky. Just like with the Catapult Zombies, the Plant seemed to grow and expand its leaves, protecting the spaces around it. The Bungee Zombie landed face-first into the leaves with a thud and then quickly flew back up.

It took a long while, but eventually, all the zombies, including the Regulars, Ladder, and Catapults, were taken out. The boys all sighed with relief.

"I'm glad we finally got that taken care of," Alex told the others. "Unless something drastically changes, I think we're set!"

"Well, there could always be a new, stronger zombie," Freddy pointed out.

"Well, we'll find a way to stop it," Alex replied casually. "After all, it's not like there's going to be an impossibly tough zombie to stop, right?"

*          *          *

"Minion!"

"Yes, Master?"

"Get up here!"

"Yes, Master!"

Dr. Zomboss took his rotten finger off the intercom button and waited for his minion. While he did, he stared in marvel at the bottle of glowing pink liquid in front of him. If this chemical worked, there'd be no way those humans would ever win.

Minion then came up into the lab with a sprint.

"What is it, Master?" He asked Zomboss. "Do you need me to clean the uranium out of the test tubes again?"

"Not at the moment, but thanks for the reminder!"

Minion groaned in regret.

"No, I wanted to show you this!"

He then carefully picked up the bottle and showed it to Minion, who gazed at it with awe.

"What is it?" Minion asked.

"This," Dr. Zomboss replied with a giant grin, "is how those humans are going to lose!"

"How, Master?"

"Bring a zombie up into the test facility and I'll show you!"

Minion then ran over to the computer and typed some commands. A few seconds later, a Regular Zombie dropped from the ceiling in the next room. The only thing seperating Zomboss and Minion from the Regular was a thick layer of indestructible glass.

Zomboss then dropped the liquid into a tunnel that led into the test facility, where it landed right next to the Regular. It then picked up the bottle out of curiosity and slowly drank it.

"You might want to hold on to something," Zomboss advised to Minion.

Just as he said that, the Regular gasped and grabbed its chest. It then started to shake violently. It screamed in a high-pitched shriek in agony. However, that high-pitched shriek quickly turned into a low-pitched roar!

The zombie then seemed to grow taller, almost to 8 feet tall! Its puny arms and legs seemed to grow exponentially muscular to the point where the sleeves on its jacket and jeans were ripped to shreds.

Its face seemed to change, as well. It got bigger, and more deformed. Most of all, it got angrier. It opened its mouth and let out a giant deafening roar!

Minion gasped at the sight of the creature, but Zomboss just smiled.

'Perfect!' He thought. 'Now all that is left to do is to release him onto those humans!'

"Send him down, Minion," he said aloud. "It's about time our living friends got a taste of... The Gargantuar!"

*          *          *

Alex and Freddy had just finished the movie when Josie sleepily walked down the stairs.

"Did I miss anything?" She asked.

"Just another zombie attack," Alex replied. "But nothing we couldn't handle. Especially with Umbrella Leaf."

"Who?"

Alex and Freddy briefly explained the new Plant to Josie. She gave a satisfied nod in reply.

"I wonder what Dave's up to," Freddy wondered.

"I kinda feel bad," Alex admitted. "He's been making so many Plants for us. I think he needs a break."

"What do you suggest?" Josie asked.

"Let's just let him take a nap or something. He must be exhausted!"

Freddy and Josie agreed and they went into the basement to find Crazy Dave at the work bench with what appeared to be a flower with white petals and yellow middle sitting on it.

"Oh, hey, guys!" Dave said when he saw them enter the room.

"What's this?" Alex asked, referring to the flower.

"Oh, this is Marigold," Dave replied. "Admittedly, she doesn't necessarily help with zombies."

"What does she do?" Freddy asked.

On cue, Marigold radiated a bright light and a loud POP was heard. The teens gasped in awe as they saw what appeared to be a gold coin fall out of her face.

"She simply makes silver and gold coins!" Dave explained. "It's something I've been wanting to build for years, but never had the materials."

"Yeah, that would've been helpful in a non-zombie world," Josie said in amazement.

"Well, I guess we at least have a new Plant to keep us company, right?" Alex said with a shrug.

"I suppose," Dave admitted. The teens then saw him give a small yawn.

"Hey, Dave," Josie told the lunatic, "how about you get some rest? We can handle the zombies."

"Are you sure?" He asked in an uncertain tone. "What if you need me?"

"We'll wake you up," Alex replied. "You've been working too hard; you need some R&R."

"Why do I need Rocks and Radiation?"

"No...I meant Rest and Relaxation."

"Oh! Well, I don't see why not." He then got up from his seat and stretched. "Are you sure you can handle yourselves?" He asked with caution.

"Don't worry about us, Dave," Freddy told him. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Dave smiled in agreement and walked upstairs.

"Now all we gotta do is wait for zombies," Alex told them.

"Well, they're sort of unpredictable at this point," Josie told him. "Who knows when-"

ERT! ERT! ERT! They then quickly got into planting position and prepared for the fight.

Alex planted the Sunflowers along the back column, as usual. When Regular Zombies approached, the Cabbage-Pults were planted and the the cabbages flew. When Cone Heads came, the Kernel-Pults were planted, as well. He made sure to add Umbrella Leaves, as well, to be safe.

What they all found odd was the fact it was all Regular and Cone Head Zombies. They didn't complain about it, but it was very suspicious.

Suddenly, a low rumbling could be heard near the house. They could feel themselves shake a little bit. That's when it happened: a huge rumbling came and they shook violently!

"Is it an earthquake?!" Freddy asked with panic.

"I'm not sure!!" Alex replied back with fear.

Suddenly, the rumbling stopped. Everything in the basement looked fine, which was good for them. They then looked at the TV and gasped with more shock than they ever imagined.

"Oh...!" Alex gasped with surprise.

"My...!" Josie said with fear.

"GOD!!" Freddy screamed in panic.

Standing on their roof was the biggest, buffest, and baddest zombie they ever saw. It was amazingly tall, shockingly muscular, and unimaginably massive! It appeared to be holding a power line tower in its hand and it had a smaller, goofier zombie in a pouch on its back!

"I hope we can handle this thing!" Freddy gasped.

"We just gotta try!" Alex replied. He then began trying ways to stop the massive creature.

His first thought was to plant a Cherry Bomb next to it, which he did.

POWIE! The cherries exploded and destroyed the Regular and Cone Head Zombies around it. However, the big zombie was still slowly moving towards the chimney!

When it got to the first Plant in the row, an Umbrella Leaf, the giant zombie did the unthinkable: instead of eating the Plant, it took the electrical tower and crushed the Plant flat! There was a loud rumble when it did.

It then suddenly grabbed the small zombie from its back and chucked it further into the row of Plants. They could hear the little zombie give a high-pitched cackle as it flew in the air.

The tiny zombie landed on top of Cabbage-Pult and began eating it! Alex then quickly planted a Jalapeño in the row and waited for it to...

WHOOSH! The fire spread into the entire row and not only vaporized the small zombie, but the big one let out a giant roar as it swayed back and forth a bit and fell forward onto its face. The whole house shook when it did. It then stopped moving. It was safe to say it was taken out.

With that, there were only Regular Zombies and Cone Heads to take care of, which was incredibly easy.

"That was intense!" Alex exhaled. "We could've died!"

"Good thing we didn't!" Freddy told them all. "

"I hope Dave's okay!" Josie gasped.

They all then ran upstairs and found the lunatic sleeping like a rock on the couch. They were surprised they couldn't hear his snores from the basement. Heck, they'd be surprised if anyone in Florida couldn't hear it!

"We better let him rest," Alex told them. "He definitely needs it."

Josie and Freddy nodded in agreement and went back into the basement. They had quite the scare in that last fight. They hoped it would be easier, or at least not any harder, next time.