by Austyn Shull
One Dimension Over: Zombies, Werewolves, and the Supernatural
By Austyn Shull
© Shutupsystems.com and Austyn Shull
These stories were originally published back in 2005 in the anthology One Dimension Over by Austyn Shull. They have been cleaned up slightly, but still retain their original voice and writing style. The artwork on “Organism” was illustrated by November 17th.
“Normal Abnormal" 5
“The Old Dresser” 17
“Organism” 21
“Carriers” 25
“Re-made Spell” 28
“Normal Abnormal"
“Mom, isn't he a werewolf?" shouts eight year old Suezy.
"He certainly acts like one, honey," Caroline, Suezy’s mother, replies.
"Mommy, why's everyone so mean to the Ab-norms?" Suezy innocently asks her mother.
"I'll tell you in the car honey," Caroline tells her daughter as the werewolf cashier checks out her groceries.
"Vaper or vlastic?" the werewolf asks Caroline through its fur.
"Plastic,” Caroline replies.
The werewolf cashier hands Caroline her groceries. Caroline and Suezy walk away with the groceries and head out the door. Suezy starts jumping about and asks her mom the question again.
"So why is everyone mean to the Ab-norms?"
"Because they are afraid, honey."
"Why?" little Suezy asks just as they reach the car.
"Because many years ago the Ab-norms were seen as fiction and monsters,” Caroline hurriedly explains as she scrambles to open the door and load the groceries.
"What’s fiction?" Suezy asks eagerly.
"Fiction is something made up,” Caroline continues as she gets in the driver’s seat, and Suezy buckles up in the passenger seat. “A made up story."
Caroline starts the car.
"Oh, the Ab-norms are made up?" Suezy looks perplexed at her mother.
"No. No Honey. It was thought for a long time, but later we found that they were just different."
"How come they get so hairy?" Suezy giggles.
"Well honey. Not all the Ab-norms are hairy,” Caroline continues explaining as they drive out of the parking lot. “Only the werewolves."
"Aren't werewolves the only Ab-norm?"
"No honey, there are the vampires, ghosts, incubuses, and succubuses, and the witches, well not really the witches,” Caroline stops mid thought as Suezy looks looks up at her confused.
"What do you mean?" Suezy continues to look at her mother with a confused face.
"Well, there all different types, kind of how we humans, or Norms as we are often called, come in several different colors."
"Oh okay. So how do…," Suezy pauses mid-question and smiles as she continues, "…werewolves get so hairy?"
"Well. Honey, the myth is that they are bit by other werewolves or hell hounds, but we now know it’s nothing more than an abundance of testosterone, like the bearded lady at the circus,” Caroline chuckles while Suezy is giggling.
"Oh," Suezy replies as she giggles.
"And vampires are Norms that are missing the proper enzymes to take in the nutrients of water,” Caroline looks over at her daughter who has stopped giggling and is now making an ‘ew’ face. “The plasma in blood is the only thing that enables them to take in the needed nutrients."
"Yeck! Drink blood! Ew!" Suezy makes a disgusted face and continues, “I’d never drink blood."
“It's okay, hun,” Caroline smiles. “You don’t have the disease."
"Good!" Suezy shouts happily.
"Do you want to know about Incubuses and Succubuses?" Caroline asks just as they stop at a stoplight.
“How are buses Ab-norms?" Suezy purses her lips and squints as she questions her mother.
"No honey,” Caroline smiles at her daughter. “The incubus and succubus are Ab-norms that look like humans and tempt sleeping people to do things with them."
"Like kiss?" Suezy questions.
"Yeah, and it is said once they do kiss, they are destined for hell." Caroline answers, unsure if she shouldn’t have said hell to her daughter.
"Ooo I'm never kissing!" Suezy yells.
"It’s okay to kiss, baby,” Caroline continues to explain as the traffic starts back up and they head into the down town area. “These Ab-norms are actually just very kissy, they aren't evil."
"Oh I think I know one of them. Can they come out in the day?" Suezy questions with a very serious expression.
"No honey. They're night Ab-norms,” Caroline responds.
"Oh,” Suezy takes a deep breath of relief. “I thought Jimmy might be one. He’s very kissy!"
Caroline smiles as she turns to her side and sees Suezy’s expression of seriousness.
"You're just so kissable,” Caroline starts tickling Suezy, and kisses her repeatedly on the face while she keeps her eyes on the road. Suezy can’t stop giggling and squirming.
"Mom. Mom!" Suezy shouts.
Caroline stops tickling and kissing, and Suezy calms herself down until she sees a goblin on the street.
"Mom, how come goblins and gremlins aren't called pets?" Suezy questions.
"Because they were once thought of as monsters," Caroline explains.
"What are they?" Suezy smiles as she asks.
"They are a species of reptile that the early story writers had once saw and wrote about, scared that it was a demon,” Caroline explains in more detail.
"Oh. What’s a demon?" Suezy questions with intrigue.
"A demon is just another word for monster, baby,” Caroline replies.
"Oh," Suezy’s eyes bulge in fear.
Caroline is about to calm her daughter when all of a sudden a scream echoes through the street.
"AHHHH! Someone help!!! call the police!" the voice screams.
Caroline figures the voice is coming from an alley, so she follows the scream and drives into the alley. A few doors in and she sees a woman standing by a pile of trash bags. Caroline stops the car and stares at the woman, but then she sees an arm lying over a bag.
"Suezy. Stay in the car," Caroline warns her daughter as she parks the car in the alley.
"Okay, what’s wrong?" Suezy asks, confused.
"Nothing, honey,” Caroline takes the keys out of the ignition. “I need to help this lady."
"I could help,” Suezy offers.
"No, honey,” Caroline stares toward the arm on the trash bag. “Mommy can do it by herself."
"Okay, if you need help I'll be in the car," Suezy offers professionally.
Caroline smiles at Suezy, opens the door, and then runs to the woman.
"What happened?," Caroline asks the distraught stranger.
"I don’t know," the lady replies while shaking with a cigarette in her hand. "I came out here for my smoke break," the lady takes a puff of her cigarette and catches her breath, then continues. “And I found him, just lying there."
"Did you call the police?" Caroline questions.
"I did," a man proudly states as he walks out of a door, just behind the woman.
"Good. Who are you?" Caroline asks.
"Tim. I work here with July." Tim introduces himself.
"July?" Caroline questions.
"That’s me," the lady, July, clarifies.
"Oh,” Caroline smiles at her.
The three of them walk around the body, inspecting it, being sure not to touch or move the body.
"Oh my god," Caroline has an expression of shock on her face.
July and Tim walk over to Caroline and look where Caroline is looking.
"Is that w
hat I think it is?" July quietly questions.
They lean in towards the neck, and then they see it; two holes on the neck.
"It can't be," Tim continues. “Vampires don't feed on people, now that they are treated equally."
"Then how can you explain this?" July asks.
Sirens break through the air as two police cars and an ambulance make their way down the alley.
A portly, stereotypical cop with a mustache exits one of the cars and shouts to the three looking at the body.
"Which one of you found the body!?" the officer shouts to the three.
"I did!" July shouts back.
"Did you notice anything unusual when you found the body?" the officer questions July.
"Yeah, just now we found vampire bite marks on his neck," Tim anxiously tells the officer.
"Strickton!" the police officer yells.
"Yeah?" Officer Strickton responds. "We have a suspect at the station."
The paramedics get out of the ambulance and walk over to the victim. Officer Strickton meets them halfway to the body.
"Get this man in the van and take him to the morgue. Look for identification," Strickton walks away while talking to himself. "That's the third."
The paramedics pick up the victim and place him on a stretcher. Caroline looks closer at the man, and notices teeth marks on his ankle.
"What's that on his ankle?" Caroline asks the paramedic.
The paramedic looks at the ankle.
"Looks like something bit him," the paramedic observes.
"Yeah, but the teeth marks are jagged," Caroline argues.
"Hmm,” the paramedic thinks to himself. “We will have the mortician inspect it."
"Oh okay,” Caroline continues to stare at the ankle. “Are we free to go, or do you need to interrogate us?"
"I don’t know. You'd have to ask the officer," the paramedic replies.
Stricton over hears the question and shouts to Caroline, "yeah, you're free to go. We can safely say you three aren't the killers!"
"Great! My daughter's been in the car for about a half hour!" Caroline worriedly shouts.
"And we better get back to work," Tim suggests to July.
Caroline walks back to her car and gets in. Suezy is half asleep in the passenger seat.
"Mommy, what’s with all the piece cars?" Suezy wonders.
"Its okay, honey,” Caroline explains. “There was an accident."
Suezy frowns, "oh. What happened?"
"Someone got hurt," Caroline answers as she starts the car and drives out of the alley.
Officer Strickton pulls out after Caroline, followed by the other officer. Strickton grabs his radio, pushes the side button, and begins to report the incident.
"Got another one,” Strickton explains as he looks at his note pad. “The third this week. Bites on the neck."
The officers pull into the station, get out of their cars, and run into the police station. They quickly run past several officers trying to talk to them and then slam open the chief’s door.
"Sorry we're late," the other officer, Brance, announces.
"I'm tired of you two always keeping me waiting,” the chief scolds the officers. “I'm breaking the law keeping this suspect in custody for as long as I have. I'll have to make up a story about finding coke in his car that turned out to be flour." The chief rambles.
"That should do it." Strickton replies with a grin.
"This isn't a joke,” the Chief eyes Strickton, and then looks down at the files on his desk. “You two get in there now, or you won't have your badges anymore."
"Okay. Okay," Brance replies.
The two officers exit the chief’s office and make their way down the hall into the interrogation room. Inside the room sitting at a rectangular metal table, a scruffy man in a leather jacket and blue jeans sits rubbing his 5’oclock shadow beard. Brance and Strickton pace back and forth in front of the scruffy man. The scruffy man glares at the two officers.
"Alrigh,” Strickton begins to interrogate. “Who's doing the murders? Who’s the cold blooded killer trying to frame the vampires?"
“No one's tryna frame the vampires," the scruffy man responds.
“Yeah. Brance,” Brance blurts out while talking on his cell phone. “Okay... What?... How?... From what?”
They sit in silence for a moment, and then a look of anger fills Brance’s face.
“Oh. Okay. We’ll be there soon,” Brance closes his phone and slips it back into his shirt pocket.
Strickton and the scruffy man stare at Brance, awaiting the details on the phone call.
“Who was that?” Strickton asks.
“That was the mortician,” Brance starts. “They found bites on the ankles and stab wounds on the back. They also found fur on the man’s clothes.”
“You got to be kidding me?” Strickton faces the scruffy man as he continues. ”They aren’t just framing vamp. They are framing all the Ab-norms?”
“You’re not listening to me,” the scruffy man leans towards Strickton. ”No one’s framing anyone. I haven’t heard it on the streets, and I know everything that goes down. I get the low down every day from my pals in the gangs.”
“Are you trying to tell me no Norm is framing the Ab-norms, and that it’s a pack of Ab-norms killing people?” Strickton stands up. “…and they just decided not to live life in harmony with us…. and to go back to the mythological theories of what they do!?”
“I don’t know,” the scruffy man nervously answers. “All I know is it ain’t people framing.”
Strickton pounds the table and kicks his chair to the wall, “you can’t tell me that you don’t know! You said you know all that goes down in the streets, and these murders are happening in the streets!”
He pounds again and walks over to his chair, picks it up, and walks back to the desk. He then firmly places the chair down, but doesn’t sit. The scruffy man nervously squirms in his chair.
“Look, I know what is planned by the people, not the Ab-norms,” the scruffy man continues. “And if the murderers are anything like us, these murders aren’t occurring in the alley. They probably happen somewhere else and are dumped off in alleys.”
“Wait!” Brance cuts the scruffy man off. ”They found blood at all three crime scenes in the alley, so let’s drop that theory.”
“Are you sure the blood wasn’t placed?” asks the scruffy man.
“Yes,” Brance replies. “Each victim’s blood matched the crime scene blood.”
“But how do you know they didn’t just place the blood?” the Scruffy man continues to ask.
“Because there was also evidence of a struggle,s and the neighbor didn’t hear any cars pull up in the alley that night.” Brance defends.
“Maybe they walked.”
“Walked!?” Brance laughs. “If they walked home there would have been drips of blood forming a trail.”
“Not if the victim was wrapped in plastic,” the scruffy man cockily states.
“He’s right,” Strickton spurts. “If they wrapped him, he wouldn’t have dripped, and that would mean the murder happened within walking distance.”
“Not really,” Brance add. ”The residents reported there were no cars pulling into the alley. Not there were no cars period. These streets are always full of cars. There’s no way to determine if a car pulled up in the front of building, then the murderers carried the body to the alley and positioned and placed the framing evidence on the body.”
“DAM! I thought we had it,” Strickton slams both fists on the table. ”You’re free to go. Thanks for your help.”
“Are you sure, Strickton?” Brance asks.
“Yeah,” Strickton continues. “He’s helped us enough. Every solution becomes a problem. I’d rather not be stuck here playing clue all day.”
“Good point. You can go, kid.” Brance releases the scruffy man.
“Pick up a lollipop up front,” Strickton sarcastically adds.
The scruffy man turns to S
trickton, “you have lollipops here?”
Strickton looks the scruffy man in the eyes and, with a serious amazed face, answers, “no. Get out of here. You’ll find your keys and stuff up front.”
