"You ready to frag Form?" I asked in chat.

"Sure I don't "have" to leave for Atlanta tonight. I can wait till tomorrow morning." he typed back.

"Cool. Hellchicks server?"

He replied, "Sure cya there."

Online deathmatch is a great pasttime. You get to release some tension and there is a lot of skill involved. It has really become quite a refined hobby over the last few years. You find yourself playing certain servers with a group of friends and you notice when something isn't "right".

The something this time was a player. Just after Form and I entered the server we happened to we see Death spawn in. Or I should say "appear" That was the first clue. He was simply there. No graphics effects, no sound, just there. That didn't stop us from getting on into the game but it stuck in my mind.

This player just didn't move right. and the model was like nothing you could dream up. The detail, the way the black robe flowed, and the moves... See, it was like he had to force himself not to just fly. You'd catch him hovering just few pixels too high or too low. EVERY shot he did fire connected. Not like a bot tho. More like a deliberate attempt to fit in to the flow of the carnage and NOT dominate the match.

Just as I slipped into spectator mode to follow him around he seemed to start chasing Form around the map. If this guy was bizzare from in game it was almost too much from spectator. Like looking through night vision gear or something. He was running past other players to keep Form in his sights but had stopped firing completely. Just taunted him. With the "Come on" wave, or a pointed finger, and a scythe swing that I didn't know ya could do. Finally Form just bailed out of the server with me close behind.

"Haz, what the hell was that guy?" Form asked.

"Form ya got me but I know I don't have a model like that on my system!" I said.

"Okay that does it for me. I'm heading out now. Maybe if I'm not here that Death guy won't find me! LoL Cya when I get hooked up in Atlanta." And with that, Form was gone.

I scanned my system for that model and came up with nothing. With millions of "Death" nicknames out there there was no way I would ever find him with a search. So I decided to go back to Hellchicks. Maybe he was still there...

Sure enough "Death" was still there doing that weird hover thing and placing in the middle of the pack as far as scoring. At the map change I had to see if he would chat.

"Yo Death. What's up with chasing my buddy around earlier?" I typed. Suddenly the skeletal face filled the screen. So impossibly detailed and "real" I leaned back out of reflex.

"Oh you mean HPO-Formaldihyde?" he hissed in a voice I wish had been only text on a screen.

"Ya.", was all I could manage to squeak out. Somehow typing didn't seem to be appropriate.

The bones in the image seemed adjust and shift, "I was just surprised to see him playing at the time. See I have an appointment with him just outside Atlanta tonight."