1 Fat Every Second -

Society became quieter, slower, and strangely more empathetic. We were all carrying the same burden, second by second. No one was thin, so no one was judged.

The "Fat" didn't come from food. It was atmospheric, a biological glitch in the air we breathed. Every sixty seconds, exactly sixty grams of dense, subcutaneous adipose tissue would manifest on every human body on Earth. One gram, every second. Month 1: The Novelty 1 Fat Every Second

On the anniversary of the Ticker, every survivor was 72 pounds heavier. The "Fat" didn't come from food

Five years in, the human form was unrecognizable. The average human carried 360 pounds of "Ticker-Mass" in addition to their original weight. One gram, every second

Architecture changed. Stairs were replaced by reinforced ramps. Doors were widened to four feet as a standard. Clothing was sold in "stretch-growth" fabrics that could expand six inches a month. Year 5: The Equilibrium

But humanity adapted. We became a species of constant movement. Since we couldn't stop the growth, we fueled our world with it. The excess tissue was surgically harvested in "Lipo-Plants" to be refined into biofuels. We literally ran our cities on the weight of our own bodies.

At first, it was a joke. Late-night hosts made cracks about "The Great Expansion." Diet pill stocks plummeted while sweatpants manufacturers saw their value triple. People laughed as they notched new holes in their belts every week. In thirty days, everyone on the planet had gained roughly five and a half pounds. It was manageable. Month 3: The Infrastructure Crisis