Growing up in the shadow of the Grintmarsh reactors was never something you bragged about, not even when it meant double calcium rations for the rest of your days. Some days it took all of your patience to not snap at the people glaring at you "My bones are literally dissolving right now, do you really want my rations so badly?" but their ignorance wasn't their fault.
The county council liked to keep the reactor's side effects quiet, nobody wanted the masses to panic and a few odd conditions here and there weren't such a high price to pay for such low cost energy right? At least that's what the unofficial statement was which, when combined with the extra rations, was enough to keep the locals placated for the most part.
The county council never saw the worst cases, they were always hidden away from important visits. Allegedly it was to protect their delicate health but we all knew it was a lie, they never wanted to face the consequences of their pet project.
Millions of pound sterling thrown at an experimental reactor was bound to have some kind of catch, something far worse than blood that ate through bone. You grew up alongside children whose twins were both inside and outside their little bodies, tiny hands and half formed heads playing and laughing with their host-twin like they had thoughts of their own.
According to the host-twins, they usually did have their own thoughts that played parallel to their own like a running commentary from an unwanted and inescapable narrator who will always be bitter that they aren't the host.
Your neighbour was one of the unfortunates who hadn't been allowed to see the sun for almost fifty five years, all thanks to his "mild side effect" induced mutation. One minute he was eating a salad and the next his skin was beginning to turn a sickly shade of green, his veins and arteries clumping together and merging in a violent reaction to the ultraviolet light pouring through his kitchen window.
He wasn't much of a person nowadays, he was more of an over-sized lettuce with anger issues that was torn between reluctant acceptance of his condition and total outrage that he had yet to be compensated. They cut off his rations completely last week just to see if he could last in soil and water.
When you move to Grintmarsh you sign away your rights as a person, you're just another potential side-effect waiting to be studied.
The county council liked to keep the reactor's side effects quiet, nobody wanted the masses to panic and a few odd conditions here and there weren't such a high price to pay for such low cost energy right? At least that's what the unofficial statement was which, when combined with the extra rations, was enough to keep the locals placated for the most part.
The county council never saw the worst cases, they were always hidden away from important visits. Allegedly it was to protect their delicate health but we all knew it was a lie, they never wanted to face the consequences of their pet project.
Millions of pound sterling thrown at an experimental reactor was bound to have some kind of catch, something far worse than blood that ate through bone. You grew up alongside children whose twins were both inside and outside their little bodies, tiny hands and half formed heads playing and laughing with their host-twin like they had thoughts of their own.
According to the host-twins, they usually did have their own thoughts that played parallel to their own like a running commentary from an unwanted and inescapable narrator who will always be bitter that they aren't the host.
Your neighbour was one of the unfortunates who hadn't been allowed to see the sun for almost fifty five years, all thanks to his "mild side effect" induced mutation. One minute he was eating a salad and the next his skin was beginning to turn a sickly shade of green, his veins and arteries clumping together and merging in a violent reaction to the ultraviolet light pouring through his kitchen window.
He wasn't much of a person nowadays, he was more of an over-sized lettuce with anger issues that was torn between reluctant acceptance of his condition and total outrage that he had yet to be compensated. They cut off his rations completely last week just to see if he could last in soil and water.
When you move to Grintmarsh you sign away your rights as a person, you're just another potential side-effect waiting to be studied.
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