So many disgusting events and inventions scarred Human history. One of them is the creation of illicit substances. As a government agent who dedicated a good part of my adulthood fighting this cancer of our society, I found myself on a disturbing crime scene two months ago, the first chapter of my downfall.
“Come on Kenny let’s go.” My superior said as he noticed how petrified I was in front of the corpse.
The gruesome scenery humbled me despite my years of service, pouring multiple questions in my mind. Usually, a war between criminal organizations results in members getting stabbed, blown up by bombs or showered with bullets. However, the unfortunate fellow before me was almost split into two, from his right shoulder to his belly, by something that was probably hot. I can still recall the steam emanating from the mortal wound, the smell of his burnt flesh, and his eyes struck with incomprehension as he failed to grasp what had visited him earlier in the comfort of his home. At least, sitting in an awkward position on his bed, his gun still in his hand, everybody could tell that he fought until the very end.
His direct neighbor, an elderly woman, said that she woke up to the sound of gunshots and also heard what sounded like a lot of bees. Another witness from the other side of the alley said that after hearing the gunshots, he looked through his window, and saw a bright and flickering purple light.
Our investigations led us to discover that a new player just entered the arena of an already bloody war, for the control of the streets and the drug trade. At first, one month ago, we learned that an organization or a person apparently called Evil, or Evolve emerged, selling an expensive product that bore the strange name of D.R. The problem? We could not even get a sample of the drug, spot a simple sell occurring, and those who consumed that new product turned to unhinged individuals, hooked up on various substances, ready to consume anything for a quick rush. They all kept on telling us how useless it was to investigate, because what we searched for was already inside every human.
We kept on digging and made progress. About three weeks ago, Miss Perkins, one of Evil’s clients that we followed closely was about to make a new purchase. We listened to some of her conversation and monitored her mobile interactions, and caught her communicating with an AI about a digital currency transaction and a certain delivery. Since payment had already occurred, we decided to wait for the delivery, we thought would occur the same night.
Around 1 am, a hooded and suspicious man that kept on looking around and behind him while walking towards the lady’s house, made his way in the backyard. When we went to check on what was going on, we realized that he had gained entrance into the house, therefore, we made our move. Of course, he attempted an escape but was quickly apprehended, however, to our utter disappointment, he was no dealer. Instead, he was just a thief that planned to rob a woman who lives alone. Still, hoping to get something, we all thought that he could have been a decoy. We were just about to take him to the vehicles when we heard the sounds.
Gurgling sounds and giggles. Two colleagues and myself followed the sounds, leading us to Miss Perkins’ bedroom upstairs, only to witness something even more disturbing than the crime scene in my opinion. A short tripod held her phone as if she was recording a video. We stood right behind the device but she did not pay any attention to us, her bloodshot and entirely red eyes riveted on the phone. She was sitting on the floor dressed in her pyjama that she had soiled, shedding tears of joy, drooling as she made those gurgling sounds and giggling in her moment of absolute bliss. Reflecting on her pale face, I could discern the colors displayed on her phone screen in a strange rhythmic pattern as the device also emitted bizarre sounds like some kind of frequency tuning.
“Miss Perkins?” I called several times, completely ignored by her. She remained entranced, prisoner of what she was watching.
Carefully placing my hand over the phone while looking at her, with the intention of removing and switching off the device, the emission stopped as soon as my fingers touched the screen. Her smile vanished on the spot and she looked at me with rage in her eyes. She then screamed so loud that I almost covered my ears before she grabbed a large pair of scissors, completely ignoring our warnings and attacked. I shot her on the shoulder and she remained unfazed by the wound, only moving from rage to fear, and surprised us with an incredible speed, as she stormed head first through her window, falling to her death.
Just another frustrating outcome after such hard work, but especially and sadly, one more soul lost to the drug gangrene. I got home at around 4 am and made sure not to wake up any member of my family as I came in. Accompanied by a whiskey glass, I made my way to the living room, trying to understand what Miss Perkins was watching, and then heard the buzzing sound of my phone. I almost sat down but refrained and stood back up when I pulled the device out of my pocket and saw its screen.
A purple screen greeted me with the word ‘EvilvƎ’ in black right in the middle. I guess, a formal introduction was made as I saw the enemy’s correct name.
“What’s goin…” I tried wondering out loud, when an AI that used my own preschooler daughter’s voice went on some kind of rant. I cannot say that I remember everything, but this should be the closest reformulation:
“You cannot win. We are the future. We are your end. We shall eliminate the greedy. We shall cure the cancer. We shall heal the world. You love to feed. You will consume. Consume what we serve you. Consume till you die. You love the rush. You love the bliss. Are you hungry? Or are you sad? Do you want a dose? You will consume. Consume till you die.” The AI said as I was slowly entering some kind of trance, before something from outside caught my attention, and brought me back to earth.
Another buzzing sound, right behind the glass door in front of me, yet, not even a shadow cast on the curtain. I approached, perplexed, and pushed the curtain aside with the back of my hand. Suddenly, a black drone just descended into view in front of me, startling my soul. In less than two seconds, the drone emitted a purple light, and I understood that I was about to experience the splitting and burning beam of death. I dove on my left as the drone shot and the beam shattered the glass door and hit a couch, immediately starting a fire.
“Shit! Oh Fuck! What the fuck is that?” I heard my neighbor shout.
Discovered, the drone retreated, while my wife joined me in the living room, baffled by the scenery. I told her to get down, but she rushed to our daughter’s bedroom who fortunately happened to be safe. I unsheathed my gun while standing up and went outside through the same door. The killer drone was gone; however, my family and I are now targeted.
We and several colleagues along with their families were placed under protection and off the grid. Despite all the efforts, three entire families have already been slaughtered by various ingenious means just a few days ago. At this point, I am just waiting for our turn. What you are reading has been handwritten by myself and posted by a person of trust. Some of the consumers of D.R that were tested, presented a surreal excess of dopamine, leading us to speculate that D.R possibly means Dopamine Rush. My colleagues and I tried to make sense of the whole situation. We clearly have a very big problem born from the same technology that tried to solve other issues. A digital gang, a digital organization, selling a digital product, earning digital currency and using digital and electronic tools to solve its ‘problems’ so to say.
The dopamine is indeed inside all of us. The hormone of reward, right? The hormone exploited by many services of the online world, the world of many addictions, from the social media apps, the games to the adult content. Now, we have something dangerous called D.R, capable of exciting the brain to a surreal level of bliss, generating a damaging level of dopamine. A rush that no drug before could induce. Technology has reached levels today that were fantasy and science fiction just years ago. Therefore, do you think that humanity being eradicated by its own creations and evolution could remain a myth?