The Legend of Bastien - Chapter 18 – The Critical Calculation – Part 1 of 2

 

The Legend of Bastien

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 18 – The Critical Calculation – Part 1 of 2

 

Chrissy was somewhat better the next morning, but he still wasn’t interested in talking, even to his mother.  Still, Tess noted a drastic improvement in him.  After so long living as a…chicken, she had to redo the nail polish on his fingers and toes.  While the polish was drying, she took the time to trim his hair again, making it look as good as possible.  The clothes she picked out for him to wear that day were colorful, light, and cool as possible. 

For some reason, maybe since he had lost so much weight, or maybe because his hair had grown longer since February, Chrissy looked more like a girl than ever.  Now that he was home and the weather had turned hot, she was going to have to go shopping with him again to find him more lightweight tops.  The skirts of course were all just fine.

Deputy Mike was there at ten o’clock to pick them up.  Instead of just Chrissy going with him though, both Chrissy and Tess got into his truck.  Mike made the short trip to the sheriff’s station where he let Chrissy out, then he drove off with Tess, taking her back to his house.

Chrissy walked into the sheriff’s station and was immediately grabbed by Billy.

“It’s about damn time you got here,” Billy said.

The first thing about Billy that Chrissy noted, was the deputy shirt Billy was wearing.  He was only glad to see that Billy didn’t carry a gun like the other deputies did.  He also noted that all four of Billy’s best friends were wearing deputy shirts too.  Two minutes later, Billy and his friends dragged Chrissy through to the courthouse, where Chrissy automatically reapplied his lipstick before kneeling down.  Billy was first of course, followed in succession by Pete, Sam, Tony, and Chet.  All of them.  All Chrissy could think about was that he was back into his life of hell.  But as bad as it was, it was a lot better than being…a damn chicken.  Still, all he dreamed about was the oblivion of death.

When he finished with Billy and his friends, Chrissy was put into Deputy Don’s truck to be driven around for the day.  First stop was the judge’s house.  Once again he crawled under the judge’s desk to take care of him.  When he was done, he started to walk out, but not before the judge called, “It seems I’ve missed you more than I thought.”

When the judge said nothing more and was ignoring him, Chrissy left his office, only to run straight into Olivia.  Olivia literally grabbed him by his hand and dragged him into her office.  She was naked in no time, and a moment later, Chrissy was busy with her.  As long as it usually took to take care of Olivia Bastien, Chrissy was convinced that it took twice as long this time.  He couldn’t count the number of orgasms she had gotten from him.  When she finally pushed him away, he had no choice but to clean his entire face, and with her still naked and watching closely, he redid all his makeup.

“My God I’ve missed you!” Olivia declared when he was done.

Chrissy hadn’t missed her one bit!

From the judge’s house, Deputy Don drove him out to the bridge to take care of Deputy Steve.  Chrissy wasn’t the least bit surprised to have to do Deputy Don right after.  And then it was off to the Stockton farm where Abby, the woman Bea Stockton had to help take care of all their farmhands, excitedly dragged him straight back into her bedroom.  A little while later, all of the farmhands lined up, anxious for their brief time with Chrissy.  In the middle of that bunch was Burty, who once again didn’t seem to get past the point where Chrissy did nothing but apply an extra amount of lipstick in front of him.

“I love you Chrissy,” Burty confessed.  “I love you so much.”

Life was back to the old usual.  The miserable usual.  How could he kill himself?

That night, Deputy Don delivered Chrissy to Mike Johnson’s home instead of taking Chrissy back to his house.  Tess had to work until the dishes were done after dinner.  Chrissy didn’t get to eat with them.  Instead, he wandered around outside, keeping as far from the chicken pen as possible.  He spent most of his time inside Deputy Mike’s barn where he wouldn’t have to look at that pen. 

After dinner, Mike drove him and his mother back to their little yellow house, where later, Deputy Wyatt showed up to make sure Chrissy got more than his ample amount of punishment.

For Chrissy, life…was simply hell.  Total hell. 

After Tess finished feeding him his bottle, hugged him tightly, and kissed him, she said, “Goodnight Chrissy.”  She hugged him one more time and whispered.  “I love you.” 

“Love you too,” Chrissy whispered as he hugged her just as tight.

The two of them stayed like that for a few moments as tears fell from Tess’s eyes.  They were the first words she had heard him speak in a very long time.  Her son was coming back to life, but she had a feeling that the ordeal he had just been through would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.  A life she still wanted to make sure he lived…as long as possible.

The next day it started all over again, except it was Deputy Phillip who had the duty of driving Chrissy around.  First Billy and his friends at the sheriff’s station, then the judge’s house, then the bridge, then another farm.  And when the day was over, Deputy Phillip dropped Chrissy off at Deputy Mike’s house, where Chrissy saw the deputy’s truck already parked in front of the house.  He went in, hugged his mother, and dropped his purse until it would be time to leave.  She didn’t bother changing him because the diaper he was wearing was so huge it would probably go for a week without leaking.

With nothing better to do, Chrissy wandered back outside, and once again headed toward the barn where he wouldn’t be able to see the chicken pen.  As he walked into the barn, he could see Deputy Mike bent over the engine of his small tractor.  The deputy was still in his uniform.  Bent over like that, his gun stuck out from his waist. 

Chrissy took two more steps and stopped as something on the ground against a piece of farm equipment caught his eye.  A metal bar.  He stared at the bar for only a moment.  Almost in a trance, he picked the bar up and approached the deputy as silently as he could, but Mike was bent over the tractor engine and not only couldn’t hear him, he was completely involved in what he was doing.  Before he knew it, Chrissy had grabbed the metal bar with both hands, raised it high in the air, and with every ounce of strength he had, he brought it down on the deputy’s head.  Mike’s body fell face first over the tractor engine.  Again and again, Chrissy raised that bar in his hands and used it to cave in the back of the deputy’s head.  It was all hardly necessary.  He had hit him hard enough the first time to kill him.

Chrissy dropped the metal bar and grabbed the deputy’s gun, still in its holster, still sticking out from his waist.  He checked it.  Six bullets in it.  He carried it from the barn, straight into the house.  Judy and her mother were at the kitchen counter.  He was close enough to them that when he raised it in Judy’s direction and his thumb pulled back on the gun hammer, the sound of the gun cocking made both of them turn in his direction.  Liz went wide-eyed with fright and Judy screamed, but not for long.  His first shot hit Judy square in the chest.  Liz was rooted in place, not able to believe what had just happened.  Chrissy turned the gun on her and the moment she tried to run he shot her dead too.

From the hallway his mother ran into the kitchen.  Chrissy saw her stop and stare in shock when she saw the dead bodies and him holding the gun.  “Chrissy, what have you done?” 

He didn’t answer.  Instead, he went back outside, back to the barn.  The gun held six bullets.  He had used three.  There were six more bullets on the deputy’s gun belt.  He was removing them when his mother got to him.

“Chrissy, what have you done?”

“What I had to do,” he replied, the few simple words coming out in plain English.

“Chrissy, you killed them.  All of them are dead.”

“Good.”  He pulled the first three spent cartridges from the gun and replaced them with fresh ones.  He held the last three bullets in his hand and walked straight past his mother and into the house.

Tess stared at Mike’s body.  She couldn’t look long because of the brutal way his head was caved in.  She ran after Chrissy.  “Where are you going?”  But she got no answer. 

In the house, Chrissy went to where he had dropped his purse when he had arrived.  He dropped the three bullets into it and stuck the gun into it as well.

“What are you doing?” Tess asked again.

Chrissy looked at her but didn’t answer.  He walked right past her and out past the bodies in the house.  He headed for the deputy’s truck, and stopped.  Keys.  He had to have the keys.

He changed course and went back to the dead deputy, his mother following with him. 

“What are you doing?” she asked again.  Still, she got no answer.  She was horrified to see him reach his hands into the dead deputy’s pocket.  A moment later, she saw him pull the keys out. 

“Chrissy, talk to me!” Tess said urgently.  But it was as if her son was in a trance.  She followed him out to the truck and was shocked to see him open the driver’s door.  “What are you going to do?”

Chrissy opened the truck door and stopped.  He looked at the steering wheel.  Finally, he looked at his mother.  “I need your help.”

“With what?”

“Get in.”

Watching her son carefully, Tess got into the truck, amazed at seeing him getting into the driver’s seat.  Was he going to drive the thing?  Did he know how?

Chrissy tried to start the engine, but it wouldn’t start.  “How do I start it?” he asked.

“Chrissy, what are you doing?”

“Driving.  How do I start it?” he demanded.

Tess wasn’t sure, but she suspected what the problem might be.  “Step on the brake while you try to start it.”

Chrissy did that and was rewarded to hear the engine come to life.

“Have you ever driven before?” Tess asked.

“No.”  He turned and smiled at her.  “First time for everything.”  With that, he carefully put the truck in gear.  He stepped on the gas and the truck lurched forward.  He quickly stepped on the brake and stopped.

“Easy with it,” Tess told him.  “Just go…slow!”

He nodded and barely pressed on the gas this time.  Gripping the steering wheel tightly, his head craned forward to see the dirt road better, he slowly drove the truck toward town.  By the time he got there, he was far more adept at steering, braking, and using the gas pedal.  He didn’t need to go fast, he didn’t need to worry about traffic.  In Bastien, there was no such thing as heavy traffic.  In fact, he didn’t see another vehicle on the road at all. 

Chrissy drove to their tiny yellow house.  He stopped the truck out front.  “Get out and wait for me,” he told his mother.

“Chrissy…”

“Just stay here!” he told her angrily. 

“What are you going to do?”

“What should have been done a long time ago.  Now just get out!”

Slowly, uncertainly, Tess opened the truck door and slipped down to the ground.  She closed the door and took a step back.  The moment she did, Chrissy drove off.

A few minutes later, Chrissy parked the truck in front of the sheriff’s station.  He saw two other trucks parked there, one belonging to the sheriff, the other he was sure belonged to Deputy Hank.  He pulled the gun from his purse and got out of the truck, leaving his purse behind.  He stopped briefly before going through the door and cocked the hammer on the gun, getting it ready to fire.  Only then did he open the door and go inside.  He saw the sheriff and Hank in the main room, talking. 

“Chrissy!” the sheriff said as he walked in.  “What the hell are you doing here?”

Chrissy wasted no time.  He raised the gun toward the sheriff.  Before the terror could fully register itself on the sheriff’s face, Chrissy fired the gun.  The sheriff was blown backward to the floor as the bullet hit him square in the chest.  Hank jumped from his seat but stopped dead as Chrissy immediately turned the gun toward him.  In Bastien, nobody had ever stood up to a sheriff or a deputy before, he didn’t know what to do.  Chrissy wasted no time at all, his thumb cocked the hammer, and his finger pulled the trigger.  Hank went the same way as the sheriff, blown straight to the floor with a bullet in his chest.

Chrissy felt no remorse at all.  None!  He walked over toward the sheriff to check him.  His eyes were open, and he was staring back in disbelief.  Chrissy cocked the hammer again and aimed it at his head.  The terror on the sheriff’s face was impossible to miss…just before Chrissy pulled the trigger and ended his terror – forever.  He checked the deputy next, but by the time he got there, the deputy was dead.

He had used three more bullets.  He needed more.  He was going to take Deputy Hank’s gun, but he remembered that the sheriff had a better one.  He went to the sheriff’s body and pulled out his gun.  It was what Billy had called a semi-automatic.  It was easy to figure out how to eject the cartridge from the handle of the gun.  He counted the bullets in it.  Seventeen, just like Billy had once told him.  He put the cartridge back into the gun and like he had once seen Billy do, he pulled back on the top of the gun.  When he did, he saw a bullet enter the chamber.  He let it spring back into place and tried the safety switch on the side of the gun, switching it back and forth before leaving the safety on.  He saw all the bullets stuck in the sheriff’s belt.  Not knowing how many he would need, he grabbed a handful.  Leaving Deputy Mike’s revolver behind, he carried the sheriff’s gun and the handful of bullets out to the truck.  The bullets went into his purse.  He had seventeen bullets in the gun.  He didn’t think he’d need more than that, but he was ready now, just in case.  He started the truck and moved onto his next destination.

His next stop was the obvious choice.  He pulled the truck right into the judge’s driveway and carried just the gun to the door where he rang the bell.  He didn’t know if the judge’s wife would open the door or the maid.  He had a feeling it was late enough in the day now that the maid would be gone.  Either way, he didn’t care.  He had business to take care of.

The door opened and he saw Olivia Bastien standing there.  “Chrissy!  What the hell….”

She got no further than that before he raised the gun and pointed it at her head.  The shock on her face was almost comical as she raised her hands and backed up.  Still pointing the gun at her, he went inside.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Curtsey!” he said softly.

“What?”

“Curtsey!” he ordered determinedly as he obviously flipped the safety off on the gun and aimed it more steadily at her head. 

Olivia wanted to scream but she was too afraid.  Slowly, carefully, she dropped as nice a curtsey to Chrissy as she could.  The moment she stood straight again, Chrissy pulled the trigger and put a bullet into her head.  Her body dropped down again, but this time to the floor.  Permanently.

“Olivia!  What was that?” the judge’s voice yelled.

Chrissy could hear him hurrying from his office.  He aimed the gun in the direction where the judge would be coming from.  In moments he came through the door where he stopped dead at seeing Chrissy standing there with the gun pointed at him, and his wife lying dead on the floor.  “What have you…”

Chrissy pulled the trigger.  The judge dropped like a stone.  He checked Olivia’s body.  Dead.  He checked the judge.  Not dead yet.  He put a bullet into the Judge’s head to correct that problem.  As he walked back out to the truck, he mentally remembered that he now had fourteen bullets left, and a handful in his purse if he needed them.  The sheriff was dead.  The judge and his wife were dead.  Deputy Mike was dead.  Deputy Mike’s wife and Judy were dead, and Deputy Hank was dead.  Seven people so far.  But he had many more to go.  It was time for the next most important one on his list.

A short while later, Chrissy parked the car outside the sheriff’s house.  He saw Billy’s truck in the driveway along with Alicia’s car.  As he had done at the judge’s house, he walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.  A few moments later, he heard someone opening the door.  His finger flipped the safety switch on his gun to off as the door opened.  He saw Miranda there. 

“Chrissy…”

Chrissy raised the gun and fired it.  He was so close to her that the bullet tore right through her heart.  In the distance, Chrissy heard Alicia yelling and running toward the door.  She appeared just as he stepped over Miranda’s body and got fully inside.  He turned the gun towards her and pulled the trigger as she stopped in total shock.  Alicia never had a chance to morn her daughter, she was dead before she knew it.

“Mom!  What was that?”

Chrissy heard Billy running down the stairs.  Like his mother, the moment he saw Chrissy standing in the living room holding a gun on him he stopped dead.  Before Billy had a chance to say or do anything, Chrissy pulled the trigger.  Billy dropped to the floor as the bullet tore into his stomach.  Chrissy walked over to him and pointed the gun straight down at him. 

“My dad’s gonna kill you!” Billy managed to say through his pain.

“He’s dead,” Chrissy said flatly.  He aimed the gun at Billy’s cock and fired again.  Billy sat up and his hands went to his crotch at the enormous pain.  Chrissy aimed the gun at Billy’s head and fired one more time, driving Billy’s dead body back to the floor.  There would be no more generations of Bastiens leading the town.  They were all dead now.  Finally. 

But Chrissy knew he couldn’t stop yet.  It still wasn’t safe.