The Screwfly Solution

A disconcerting wave of femicides erupts in Florida, with hundreds of men killing their wives, female family members, and women strangers. An airborne virus is upending the chemical balance in men’s brains, turning them into serial killers who target women. Humanity is caught flat-footed as this terrifying plague begins spreading like wildfire around the world.

Infected men offer different justifications for their horrific crimes, depending on their socio-cultural status and personal beliefs, but most cite extremist religious rhetoric in one way or another (an insane movement called the “Sons of Adam” spreads the notion that the Bible sees women as the root of all evil, for example). Some of the men pin the blame directly on God himself (“The spirit of God had entered me, It cleansed me“).

One of the scientists working on the problem begins taking massive doses of prolactin (“the cuddle hormone”!) to keep his own aggression in check, but the only sure solution science can come up with is chemical castration (with the unappealing alternative being actual castration), because turning off a man’s sex drive also seems to turn off his urge to kill.

As the scientist realizes he’s been infected, he calls his wife and daughter from a plane to say goodbye, knowing he can never safely see them again. He believes the virus was purposely designed to eliminate the human race. Once all women have been killed, humanity will be doomed to a slow extinction as the infected men die of old age.

The scientist may be on the right track, but finding the guilty party will be another story.