I scrambled on the crackled rural road, sprinting like I’d never done before. Hot, quite literally, on my trail was a wildfire of enormous proportions. Waves of fire rolled over the hills, shooting fireballs over my heads and towards the town beyond. It created a warm, lively glow over the night horizon that would have been cheery if it wasn’t so threatening.

I immediately took the two runners from Mountain Anchor’s control and kept an open channel. Mountain Anchor would process memories and stream highlights to the rest of the hive, effectively turning the running channel into the news.

Right away, I split the runners into four pairs, making myself into teams one through four. Fire team one would try to push through the fire and get a full grasp of its size. Fire team two would try to find a safe place to hunker down and create a checkpoint. Fire team three would be in charge of rescue operations, while Fire Team Four would suppress or quash the fires.

A tongue of fire licked my shoulder and I cried out in pain across the hive, startled by the sudden blinding pain. I wasn't paying attention and was going to pay for it. My hair caught next, the flame spreading through the organic clothing I was able to generate. The other seven rushed ahead as I stopped and faced what I was sure would be a familiar feeling. In moments, I had been swallowed in the dervish of pain.

I shuddered at base and got up out of bed, pacing the spacious bedroom as I tried to process the progress of my teams.

The remaining member of Fire Team 1 turned back, splitting out a fresh copy of the clone that had just been immolated. Together, they began to split rapidly, generating a densely packed pod of a hundred around them as a barrier. They formed a huddle on the highway, a shield wall of pensive faces and white knuckles.

Ahead, the fire raged on either side of the highway, eating up the dry grasses, leaping through the air, and scalding the pale asphalt where it landed. The hellish tunnel continued on as far as I could see, then turned. It was going to be a long, long walk.

As a group, I began to march forward, managed by the two anchors in the center to keep a steady tempo without tripping myselves up. The group formed into a bullet shape as I withdrew from the edges where the flames danced and grabbed. Sweat was already dripping down my face and wetting my shirts to my chests. The constantly roiling air rocketing through the corridor of flame did little to alleviate this, as it carried the heat of hell with it.

One by one, my clones began to succumb to the overwhelming oven. Combined with the lack of oxygen in the air, it was sapping my strength in record time. With each clone that dropped off and returned to ooze, another was generated, keeping the freshest at the center.

I glanced back, realizing the other Fire Teams were still visible. I had yet to round the corner, yet it felt like ages in this heat. I turned back to the task and set my jaws in determination.

I moved my attention over to Fire Team 2, who had burst into a dozen individuals scattered across the town. They moved pelmel, sprinting blindly at anything that looked sturdy or safe to take shelter in.

Unfortunately, the town was barely standing as it was. Most of it was prefabricated plastic buildings and trailer homes or old, dry wooden saloon-like buildings. Barns and pastures had been left open for the livestock to take to the hills on the opposite side of town.

I winced at base as one of Fire Team 2 slipped down a hill towards a pile of scrap metal. Something sharp slid through my foot and up my leg, jutting out at the knee. Rather than mess around with getting free, I split off a new clone, absorbed the unfortunate body, and pushed on.

I moved into another body that had discovered a couple parked in the middle of the main street. The old muscle car sputtered, refusing to turn. I ran past, tapping the window to grab the driver’s attention and moved to the back of the car.

Already, the raging fire had heated the trunk to the touch. I split into four, each of me wincing as the heat soaked into my hands and began to scald my skin. Regardless, I pushed the heavy steel beast into motion.

A crank and whirr roared over the high winds and the car lurched forward. It slowed for a moment as the driver called out the window for me to jump in. By then, though, I had already rejoined and was jogging on.

Back at base, I split off a new anchor and sent me downstairs to take in all of the information in the area. With that, I could form and store detailed, personal mental maps.

Already, I was starting to get a view of the town. The fire was sweeping in from the east, with a large, mostly dry concrete aqueduct framing the town on the west. Farmland stretched north and south, dotted with individual houses and barns as far as I could see. Even tiny towns had outskirts.

I continued to pace in my room, my knuckles white and pressing into my temples as I tried to manage the situation. With what little I could do, I could only hope that most of the rest of the town was abandoned or evacuated. I’m not sure I could handle knowing someone died under my watch.

It was already a struggle to understand my own deaths. I experienced every moment of my deaths so far, the desperate panic in my own last moments. Everyone of me felt the impact of my deaths and yet the impact lessened each time. I could only remind myself of rule #5 and that only I can be disposable. I would make sure no one in town died.

I moved my attention to Fire Team 3, focusing in on the alarming sixty of me that had taken to the streets. I moved in teams of ten, kicking in doors and clearing houses one at a time. I was just ahead of the fire each time, barely getting my last self out before the plastic siding began to give way.

The results, though, left me extremely alarmed.

It seemed like the fire had caught most of the town entirely unawares. It was still fairly late in the night and many were in their beds. More than a few of me had faced a quick departure from the end of a shotgun pulled from over the bed. Luckily, the sight of a body turning to ooze and the fire licking the building was enough to convince people not to ask too many questions.

The occupants were led out of the house minutes before the fire consumed them, following a clone away from the fire with dazed expressions on their faces. Each and every one of them had seen me, seen my face, and seen how many of me shared it. Rule #1 was officially broken.

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I shepherded the dazed townfolk towards the aqueduct, still trying to find a safe place to shelter this entire town. A few on the far end of town had managed to escape in vehicles but far too many cars had been consumed by the flames for an effective, full-scale evacuation this late.

I moved my attention to Fire Team 4 and was floored by my new upper limit.

Three hundred of myself moved in pairs through the hellish landscape. Every second I burst a new pod of ten in each direction, each dying, returning to ooze, and extinguishing the flames around me in a futile attempt to stem the tide. The fires were not burning out by themselves, but rather being fed fresh material from the back. A tide of tumbleweeds rolled in, riding the heat before leaping out like fireballs or simple keeping the flames alive. More than a few 4s had been taken out by a flaming ball of needles. Putting out this fire myself would be basically futile.

I quickly sent my thoughts out through the hive to get House Anchor’s attention. I quickly pushed my digital artist clone aside, taking the computer and pulling up a search engine. While I was busy physically stopping the fire, I would also research how to stop them. I pulled up articles and peer reviewed papers, news reports and firefighting manuals.

I transmitted the research to myself, which team 3 immediately began to make use of. Team 3 changed their tactics, going from ten person pods to sending a single clone down each road.

At each house, I charged at the door, grounding a foot to drive the other into the door, following a police training manual on door breaching. I felt positively matrix-like, taking in firefighting procedures just moments before needing them.

I split to cover the hallway and the up stairs, then sent another of me to check the basement.

Hallway me split into three to check each door, walking into a kitchen, a living room, and a child’s room at the same time. Each was empty. I grabbed a pair of car keys from the kitchen and a wallet from the living room, then dashed back to the front door.

Basement me split into four after jumping down the last few steps. I hunted between the boxes of food stores and mementos, coming away with a black cat that looked more annoyed than grateful. I returned to the front door, storing the wallet and keys in my pockets before absorbing the hallway crew.

Upstairs, I split into two to open two doors. In the first, an old woman stared out the window, the flames reflected in her coke-bottle glasses. She gestured for me to hurry up and I rushed over. I fumbled with her for a moment while I researched emergency carries, then split to form a chair with my arms.

Across the hall, I burst through a door to see a middle aged couple huddled against the far wall.

“Who are you? What’s going on?” one of them shouted, brandishing a pistol in my direction.

“I’m a superhero.” I responded, splitting off a pair of me to throw open the closet and toss them something more substantial to wear. “You have to come with me!”

“Ok.” They both respond, the gun lowering as quickly as it had come to bear. The first few times, I had tried to explain the entire situation, but this always yielded faster results.

I took back the clones and guided the family out the front door. I handed them their cat, keys, and wallet while I set the old woman in the back, then pointed them towards the right road to take. At the same time, I guided another couple from across the street to sit in the back with grandma. A minimal amount of cars filling the few exits across the aqueduct would keep this as orderly as possible.

One of the two tried to return back into the house, calling for their child, but I pushed them back towards the car with five of my bodies, each spouting promises to find the kid safe. I split off a few dozen more for a more detailed search of the area while I wrestled the screaming parent into their vehicle.

I wasn’t sure I could keep that promise, but I would do my best for who I could.

The fire had consumed nearly half of the town by this point. Everything behind the fireline had collapsed, melting under the waves of flame. Moreover, nothing on the other side was left untouched, as every building bore burns and cinder before flames could even take them.

Soon, though, it wouldn't matter. By then, every building in the main town had been turned out. The streets were full of survivors escaping the flames on foot or packed into cars, all urgently rushing to make it over the few bridges.

Heading in the opposite direction, Team 1 was struggling. I had gone through hundreds of bodies between Teams 1 and 4 alone. I had already grown used to it, each clone marked for death no longer nervous as the whole would continue on.

I had expected the flames to have burned through everything beyond the town already but something was continuing to feed the hungry flames that took out so many of my runners. I considered if maybe I was not the only superpowered person to have been created in the last few days. It only made sense, after all, why would I be the only one? Somewhere out here, I was sure, was someone else equally lost, equally overwhelmed by the sudden incredible power they were given.

I moved to the window of the cabin, looking at my base and trying to figure out the best place to build a concrete structure for this mystery pyromancer. If there was some way I could find them and convince them to stop, we could maybe even join forces - and they’d need a safe place they could practice in this forest.

I shook my head, clearing the thoughts as members of Team 4 pushed for my attention, several of them sending thoughts of concern to the hive at large. I focused in, already worried at what more could be piled on to this situation.

The reports of Team 4 did not disappoint.

Several pairs had traveled deep into the fires, wading through and extinguishing through as much of the blaze as they could. The ooze did well to hamper the flames for a few minutes but soon enough the ground was reclaimed by the flame. Now, several of them were staring up at the apparent source of the fire, the reason why the inferno continued to rage for so long.

A roaring tornado ripped back and forth through the landscape. The black dirvish of smoke wavered east to west, picking of flames and trees alike before launching them off into the distance. Hordes of dry tumbleweed rattled in, pulled in by the vacuum from massive distances away.

Team 2 pulled my attention from the whirling horror. Memories of every corner of town, every storm cellar and utility building had been, at minimum, glanced over and ruled severely unsafe. There was nowhere to drop anchor, much less shelter a few hundred survivors.

Across the hive, I let out a strangled sigh of frustration. Danielle gave me a narrow-eyed look. A cold vagabond looked around the mountain truck stop storage, alarmed that he’d been found. The forest clearing filled with the sounds of my inability to help despite this incredible power.

“What’s going on?” Jay asked, leaning into my room and gesturing over his shoulder. “Your artists were complaining in the kitchen about a fire?”

Relief washed over me and House Anchor quickly outlined the situation. My roommate, at least for some of me, stroked his chin thoughtfully, then suddenly reached out and struck me. I looked at him in surprise in confusion, even myself at base raising a hand to my cheek.

"The hell was that for?" House Anchor cried out.

"I don't know, I saw it in a movie, thought that'd calm you down." Jay pulled up a chair and set his fingers in a steeple.

"Lets kick this fire's ass." He said.