Killed Everyone in the World

Jackson worked tirelessly, until he killed everyone in the world.

Killing a lot of people had been his dream since he was a little boy. And he fantasized about all the ways he could do it. For example, he imagined poisoning the police cafeteria, to kill all the policemen. Although, he imagined not all policemen ate at the cafeteria, since they worked shifts and were generally pretty busy. Poisoning food would have worked better at a school.

Jackson did not hate people, or bear any special kind of grudge. Not more than you or I. He did not have any particular reason to seek revenge. Not more than you or I. He was average, just like you or I. Except he dared dream big.

Total atomic annihilation seems like the right choice to the general public. But Jackson knew that would not work. Nuclear war would cripple nations and organizations, but would hardly kill everyone. No, a little more finesse was required.

When he finally did it, it was through gene therapy. Jackson was average, but average people do get to work in complex fields. His field was building viruses which cure terminal illnesses. He built one that hopped from person to person and killed them slowly. Slowly was the key - before anyone realized the virus was deadly, everybody except Jackson was infected. He was the only one who was immune.

Jackson did not plot to get into genetic engineering. He did not work all his life to get the knowledge and skills. He just kind of fell into his career, like we all do. Then he saw the opportunity, and he took it.

As everyone was slowly dying, he did not brag about his achievement. That would have damned him for sure, but he also did not want to brag anyway. He was just an average person without illusions of greatness. He did not think anyone would be interested in hearing about it. So he just waited for all of them to die.

Finally, he was alone. Sitting in his office, at his desk. Thinking about how he would live out the rest of his days, until there was nobody else left. Nobody else, ever.

Meanwhile, on Mars there were no people all along. Same for Venus. Same for all the other places in the Universe, and all the times, and all the situations that ever occurred.

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk