Stories: "The extinction of evil" by bonzopoe

I wrote this, originally in Spanish, in 2021, when we were in the midst of the pandemic. At the time, there was much talk about how vulnerable our interconnected and immediate way of life had made us to pandemics such as the one we were facing. And there were fears that this could be the first of several we might experience in the future.

With this text, I tried to look at this potentially bleak scenario from another, more hopeful and positive perspective. I hope I have succeeded.

Given the passage of time and the differences between Spanish and English, I have made some minor adjustments to the original text so that it does not feel like a simple translation and conveys the same meaning, using different expressions or wording in some cases for certain paragraphs.

“Grandpa! Grandpa!” Lucía shouted, running toward him with the day’s digital paper in her hand.

“What is it, child? Why all the shouting?” Don Román replied.

“Look at this news story! A girl in the neighborhood died of evil!” Lucía said, handing the device to Don Román.

As he read the article with interest, Lucía asked, “I didn't know a child could die of evil, Grandpa. Could I die of evil too?”

“No, my child, don’t you worry. It is extremely rare for a child to die of evil. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a case like this. I don’t think there’s been one since your mother was your age. So, go back to your games; you have nothing to fear.”

“I love you, Grandpa,” Lucía said, before running off into the garden with Bobby, the family dog, to continue playing.

Just as Don Román had told her, it had been a long time since a child had succumbed to "death by malice."

Reading the full report, Don Román saw that it was indeed an exceptional case. The girl had been born without the capacity for empathy—totally indifferent to the pain and suffering of others. She committed acts of malice without even realizing it. However, after receiving specialized therapy to help her navigate social behavior, she learned the technical difference between right and wrong, even if the distinction meant nothing to her personally.

Unfortunately for her family, that knowledge was her undoing. Every time she did something "bad," her body began to produce the C19SV2 hormone—popularly known as the "Evil Hormone." This caused her blood to thicken and her red and white blood cells to swell abnormally, drastically increasing the risk of clots and the myriad conditions that follow.

The symptoms ranged from obstructed veins—which in severe cases required amputation—to thrombosis leading to heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular failures.

Don Román remembered how in 2024, just as the global COVID-19 vaccination effort had concluded and the world was finally returning to normal, humanity was struck by a different kind of pandemic: a wave of heart attacks and strokes. Scientists initially thought these were long-term side effects of COVID-19 itself. They were right, but not in the way they expected

By vaccinating the entire global population—introducing the virus's markers into the bloodstream of all humanity—we had unwittingly awakened a latent gene. This gene began producing a new and paradoxical hormone: C19SV2.

Many also called it the "God Hormone" or the "Guilt Hormone." Just as the body secretes specific hormones when we are happy, stressed, or hungry, C19SV2 is triggered when someone does something wrong.

Whether through social conditioning, instinct, or a mix of both, humans almost always know when they are doing something wrong, and that realization triggers the hormone. This was why the case of the young girl was so notable; because of her condition, she was incapable of feeling remorse or guilt. She only recognized "evil" as something she had been taught, even if she couldn't understand why. For the new world that emerged after the pandemic, this brought a sense of peace, even if the girl’s family couldn't see it that way.

In early 2024, a mysterious wave of deaths began among politicians, celebrities, and, above all, criminals of every stripe. All died of cardiovascular failure. It took the scientific community nearly two years to solve the mystery. Meanwhile, a world already weary from COVID-119 had to face a new pandemic—one even more move unbelievable than the last. The "bad people" were dying.

News cycles were filled with reports of the deceased. From CEOs and politicians to clergy members and scientists, along with common criminals, the death toll rose daily. Terror gripped the population until people began to notice a pattern in the history of the victims—long before science confirmed it: the pandemic only affected the "wicked."

While scientists scrambled for answers, religion—which had been fading into the background of modern life—suddenly took center stage. Religious conflicts ceased, and with them, many of the world’s oldest historical disputes.

The world interpreted this second pandemic as a modern version of the biblical plagues of Egypt. It sparked a global revolution in behavior—a revolution without a leader or conflicting factions. It was a revolution driven by the raw need to survive, as people realized they would finally reap what they sowed in this life, not the next.

When the studies on the new hormone were finally made public, humanity understood that we can only survive together, by caring for one another rather than stepping over each other. Within just a few decades, the world was completely transformed.

It was a kind of purge. The "bad people" died as a direct consequence of their own actions, without the need for accusations, juries, or judges. Little by little, everything that had stalled human progress withered away. We entered the era of peace and universal well-being we live in today, only a couple of generations later.

“Bobby, get the ball!” Lucía’s voice rang out from the garden.

Don Román set the digital paper on the table and sighed. “I don’t know what would have become of this planet without the COVID pandemic,” he thought. “We probably would have destroyed ourselves by now, or be clinging to a dying world. In the end, it was a blessing in disguise. Who would have thought?”

Thank you very much for reading this post and dedicating a moment of your time. Until next time and remember to leave a comment.