Milk washed across the pile of shoes littering the entrance way. Cereal bounced and rolled away into the dark living room. The clatter of a shattering bowl echoed through the dark apartment, followed by a profound, dumbstruck silence. Slowly, my roommate pulled his headphones off of his head.

“Hey Jay.”

“Hey… N-need a hand?”

“That would be stellar.”

The four of us worked to bring the body into the living room, each taking a limb and hefting it onto a table. Slowly, as one, we pulled out the chairs and gingerly sat to cast pensive looks at each other. No one spoke or even dared move. The silence was palpable.

Jay looked tense. My roommate had thus far kept a cool demeanor through the various leaks, breaks, and hard months, but this had obviously pushed him. His long legs bounced rhythmically, his spidery hands tapping in time as he thought. Every three or four measures he would run his hand through his curly blond hair or push his heavy black glasses up his crooked nose.

Beside him, Cesar and Eddie quietly whispered back and forth between them. They had always been a pair of contrasts. Cesar was tall while Eddie was short. Eddie wore dark jackets and sports logos, Cesar wore tasteful floral button ups and extravagant eyeshadow. Despite this, they always seemed to be in sync.

Tonight, however, the two were bickering in a mix of Portuguese and English. Eddie slouched in his chair, his bass rumble cutting through Cesar’s rapid hissing whisper. Cesar gesticulated wildly with each word, growing louder by the moment.

A loud gasping groan leaked from the body and everyone jumped in alarm.

“OKAY NO,” Jay started, jumping to his feet with a clattering of chair and a whirl of bathrobe, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE.”

“YEAH!” Cesar chimed in, clapping with each word, “WE. WANT. ANSWERS.”

“I want a beer.” Eddie muttered quietly

“YOU SHOT ME.” I shouted at Eddie in a hurt tone, gesturing wildly at my dead body.

“DON’T YOU YELL AT MY BOYFRIEND”

“WHY ARE YOU DEAD?! DO YOU HAVE A TWIN?”

“ASK HIM!”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“LEAVE HIM OUT-”

A pounding on the floor reminded us of the hour and we meekly returned to our seats. Eyes quickly turned to me and I sighed, giving a shrug.

“I don’t know. I woke up this morning and... this guy was in my…” I stopped suddenly to bring my hand up to my forehead. I felt the raised, curving line of scar tissue, then, reassured, I launched into the story. I fired through my morning and my experiments with separating my mind, all punctuated by Cesar’s observations.

“How did you know which was the evil one?” Jay asked. Through the story he had leaned further and further back in his chair, his hands steepled and his eyebrows growing closer together.

“I told him, duh!” Cesar cut in proudly.

“Actually...” Eddie started with a reluctant tone. He rested his hands on his cap and tilted back in his chair. “With clones, I look for goatees, then evil scars. I just happened to miss.”

A stunned silence hung in the air once more, finally cut by a nervous giggle from my roommate. “You do this often? Experienced in clone hunting?”

“We’re getting distracted.” Cesar said quickly, holding up his hands before an argument could begin. “What do we do with the body?”

“Two barrels, fourteen bottles of bleach, if you buy the ba-”

I got up and wandered into the kitchen as the others dove into a passionate discussion on body disposal. The day had been overwhelming enough and I was ready for a break. I rustled in the back of the pantry for a lost bottle of beer and a glass. I cracked open the bottle and set both on the table next to my dangling arm where Eddie could reach.

“Expired and warm, just how I like it.” he said appreciatively, ignoring the glass entirely.

“Yeah, you... really need to get better drinking habits.”

“Nah. We good?”

I held out a fist and he tapped it, then gestured past his boyfriend, who was nearly standing again as he argued with Jay, towards my body. “You’re melting.”

I followed his gesture with my eyes, spying a glisten of something pooling on the table. I gave Eddie a look, who just shrugged and pulled Cesar onto his lap. I slowly crept around the table to take a closer look. A clear substance that smelled of sugar and meat dripped from the table to the floor. It soaked into discarded newspapers and months old coupon books. The liquid pooled in the eyesockets and dripped from what was once my ears. As I watched, it bubbled from my body’s pores, breaking down right before my eyes.

A curious, intrusive thought possessed my mind. I reached a single finger out to press it into the center of the body’s forehead. The skin buckled easily, soaking my hand in the viscous liquid. I could hear someone gagging, but as through from a great distance away.

I pulled my finger back hesitantly, bringing with it a long trail of ooze that clung to me as though bound to my skin. I tried to yank my hand away but rather than break the ooze it yanked the corpse towards me. A shout rang out through the room, then a slurp, then another stunned silence that was quickly becoming the norm of the night.

“Well.” Jay said, looking slightly crestfallen, “That solves that.”

“That was disgusting.” Cesar added, his expression similarly disappointed. “I will never see Double Dare reruns the same.”

I slowly sat down, checking myself for any remaining slime. The body, in fact most of the goop that had oozed into the flooring and papers, had simply vanished into me. It flowed in like a video of a dam bursting, but reversed. The only thing remaining was a slightly damp coffee-shop apron.

An idea formed in my head and I kept the dam image in my mind’s eye. I focused, imagining water welling up behind the dam, straining, then bursting forth. Right on cue, hand held in mind, a brand new clone manifested.

The mental link was back, strong as ever. The new body had no marks, not even bruising or scrapes from the fight just an hour before. I could feel that this body was not only healed, it was rested, energetic, and looking down the barrel of a gun.

The room exploded into action once more, Cesar talking Eddie down while Jay shouted at me to give him a warning before sneezing a body out of my hand. I was standing twice over now, my four hands held up as Eddie enthusiastically brandished the weapon.

As chaos reigned in the apartment I slowly back myselves against a wall, leaning one of my hands back around a corner and into the connected hallway. I focused, imagining the dam once more and creating a new body out of sight. This time the process was slightly faster, though the strain of stretching myself between three bodies became noticeably more taxing.

Rather than try to run all of the bodies at once, I pictured the tap once more and nearly closed it. I was trusting the clone behind the wall to carry out the plan. It would be an experiment, but if successful, would have some very interesting applications in the future.

Finally, the room settled down, the gun was stashed in the freezer, and we resumed our seats with #2 leaning against a wall.

“So, you can make more of em, eh?” Jay asked, his voice more tired than anything at this point.

“Seems so!” I respond, the chipper tone coming in stereo. “And they come in fresh and healthy!”

“And you can control it?” He asked and #2 pushed off of the wall in response. I had the clone wander into the kitchen and begin to prepare tea, then left it to run independently.

They watched it work for a few seconds, then a slew of questions came at me about how I multitasked. The three sat together across the table from me, their backs turned to the rest of the apartment. While I explained the tap system, a third clone wandered into the kitchen from the hallway, slightly out of their sight line, and began to help.

“How far does it reach?” Cesar asked, perching on the edge of his chair in interest.

“At least between here and work, so, a few miles, but I bet it’s bigger.” I responded. A fourth clone quietly shuffled in and began cleaning up the spilled cereal in the entrance.

“I wonder if we can test this…” Jay muttered, then shifted his gaze from me to the hallway with a sharp expression on his face - just as a fifth clone was about to round the corner. I sent a thought to the clone hiding in the hallway, who then relayed it just in time to make #5 hesitate.

“Can the clones make clones?” Cesar asked and I struggled to suppress a smile.

“Probably, lets try it.” I say, and Jay turned back to watch me spawn a clone, who in turn spawned another. Each split was getting faster to perform.

Jay’s eyes lit up and he slapped a hand down on the table in excitement, causing all of me to jump in surprise. At once, the delicate balance of clones fell out of order. #2 dropped a tea cup, causing #3 to overflow another with sugar. #4 tried to stand and ran into #5’s broom. #6 and #7 perfectly mimic my stream of cursing as I try to open all of the taps and take control of the situation. Instead, fourteen other copies of me flow out of the hallway, tripping over themselves to help clean up.

Jay slowly sank his face into his hands while Eddie and Cesar collapsed on themselves in laughter. Eventually, I gave up and forced myselves into a standing T-pose. After a few minutes of absorbing myself I left a pair of splits to clean up, letting their minds flow mostly freely between each other, but otherwise cutting them off from my attention.

“You must spawn more overlords.” Jay murmured dryly, his tired expression only growing more fatigued. “Is there a limit to how many you can make?”

I shrug in response and perch on the edge of my seat, ready to begin spawning.

“Not in here!” Jay jumps in, a hand raised to stop me before I could begin. I sigh and sit back in my chair.

“Fine. What’s the experiment you were thinking of?”

“Well,” Jay starts, energy returning to him like he’d been freshly cloned. “Since clones can make clones, and clones come out charged, and you don’t know how far you can stay connected… When those two finish up your mess, send ‘em running.”

Cesar sat up, focusing in once more. “I like that! When one gets tired, they just…”

Cesar and Eddie spend a solid few minutes attempting to make the perfect slurping sound with their mouth while Jay leaned in even closer to explain the details. They would go in a pair, independent except for each other, and try and circle the globe on foot. When they reached the ocean, they would swim. Since they could never tire and unless an outside force took both out at the same time, they could continue on indefinitely or until a distance limit was found.

By the time he had finished explaining, I had finished cleaning the kitchen and the couple had finished slurping. We all clustered around the door to wave me off on this experiment.

“I think I run weird...” I observed as I vanished off into the night. In the back of mind I could hear my labored breathing and see streetlights slowly approach and pass on the darkened street. I closed the door and rounded onto the bike path.

I laid quietly in bed and stared up at the ceiling. The apartment was finally quiet. Cesar and Eddie had returned home and Jay back to his room with a fresh bowl of cereal. The only sound I could hear was the quiet hum of the radiator, my breathing, and my shoes on the concrete.

I screwed my eyes shut, trying to block out my clones as they ran through the night. Every time I was close to drifting off, a new intrusive through dashed into my mind. I checked the bed for more bodies, then laid back and closed my eyes. I checked under the bed just in case… then laid back and slowed my breathing. I checked back in on my runners, then closed the connection and rolled over.

It was no use.

I swung my legs out of bed, carefully stepping on and around the nest that had grown back over the space cleared earlier that morning. I got to my desk, popped open my laptop, opened a new document, and began to write.

The Laws of Division.

1. Don’t get noticed.

Though it sounded relatively easy and simple, it would be a monumental task. Already I had drawn the attention of not only friends, but dangerous strangers. It would be a matter of time before the government took note... and I had never considered myself a subtle person. If I was to avoid permanent capture I would need to establish safety nets.

It would take some planning to prosper and fly under the radar. I didn’t know anyone who could make a fake social security number. I wasn’t connected to any criminal masterminds and most of my friends could barely afford their own inhalers, let alone hiring me under the table. Someone would eventually notice several copies of me wandering around town and I had no skills that I could make money with on the internet that didn’t break this rule.

2. Experience Everything

I smiled slightly as I decided on the second law and flashed my attention to my runners. I took in the rhythmic flow of feet on concrete and confirmed with a passing street sign that I was making good time. Already I was getting a start on seeing the rest of a country I wouldn’t otherwise get to. However, I wasn’t ready to stop there. Together with my clones, I planned to try every food, every culture, every lifestyle, and every way to die. I would experience every form of torture and fear and every form of wonder and exploration before I broke law #1.

3. Keep the Original.

It took several minutes for me to decide on the third law. I could easily absorb and spawn myself once more and be full up on energy. I could wipe away the blemishes I’d gained in life in a moment... However, something about destroying my original body bothered me. It wasn’t an instinctive warning, or even a hunch, simply a reluctance to let go.

However, it wasn’t only a sentimental gesture. It would be an interesting experiment to see if I could age, if my original body could pass away of natural causes, and if that would affect the hive as a whole. Plus, it would be convenient to have for official or family needs.

I considered shipping myself back to my hometown, leaving a clone here in the city. It would ruin their retirement but… You only got the chance to live with your parents for your whole life once.

4. Don’t do crime

I furrowed my brow, concerned that adherence to the law was so low on my priority list. Worse was when I added a small footnote, stating:

4.A. Maybe a little crime.

Like all of the laws so far, not doing crime would only last so long before I broke my rules. I would have to violate this rule eventually just in pursuit of Law #2. It was something I was ready to accept, but the longer I could keep to these guidelines the better. Getting in trouble would only bring attention and questions and it was frankly a little too easy to do some of the more forbidden crimes with this power.

Murder, specifically.

However, even robbery, arson, terrorism, kidnapping, jaywalking, all were remarkably easy with enough bodies. Preventing myself from going down a dark path was not only for the sake of others, and for the sake of my morality, but also because I would have to make it special for myself. Crime would have to be a treat.

I sat back, looking at the rather bare document, but I couldn’t think of any new rules for myself just yet. My mind began to wander, focusing in on the pair as I shut my computer and crawled back in bed.

I crested a tall hill and had to shade my eyes from a blast of light as the rising sun came into view from over the mountains. I let myself finally come to a stop for a short break on the side of the rural highway. My breath mingled visibly from my bodies in fluffy clouds as one of me watched the sunrise and the other turned to watch the land behind become awash in golden morning light.

“Rule #2,” both of me muttered, exchanging smiles, then frowned. We looked over each other, moving to level ground just to be sure. I moved me to stand back to back, then had the bodies cycle absorbing and returning each other, then checked again.

Sure enough, one clone was slightly shorter than the other. It wasn’t a huge difference, in fact, it was barely noticeable visually. But I could feel the slightest offset in their center of gravity, could feel the minute difference in pace as they ran.

I relaxed, smiling slightly as the two set off again. This was the solution to quite a lot of my problems. Just the fact that the splits were not entirely identical, not perfect clones… maybe more variation could be introduced. I let the brisk morning mountain scene fill my mind as I finally drifted off to sleep.