Maggie smelled marshmallows. Warm, dripping, charred on the outside, gooey on the inside marshmallows. She looked around. Yes, she was still in the Initiative lab, lab technicians scurrying around, monsters on video screens above her computer, an occasional soldier pacing nearby.

But, she smelled marshmallows. Putting down the lab report she had been reading, she began moving toward the break room. Perhaps someone had decided to get creative with the hot plate used to keep the coffee warm.

Pushing open the door, she was greeted with...nothing. The room was sterile and empty, smelling only of the rather burnt odor coffee gets when it has been warming for several hours past freshness.

Backing out of the breakroom, she turned around and followed the smell. It seemed to be getting stronger the closer she got to the staging area where incoming demons were processed. Maggie was almost drooling. She loved marshmallows.

She walked in on chaos. There were six soldiers standing in the middle of the room, holding a large garbage bag. It was dripping liquid onto the floor, and the soldiers...well, the soldiers were covered with strings of white goo. There were black flakes clinging to the white patches which covered ninety percent of their bodies, and they all smelled like...marshmallows. They looked absolutely miserable.

"What is going on here!" Professor Walsh demanded. It looked like they had been in a snowball fight, except for the smell.

The soldier nearest her let go of the bag and approached her. It was Forrest. He looked like a demented Santa Claus, with a white beard and poofs of white fluff on his bald head.

"We were attacked while out on patrol tonight, but were able to bring back the...ummm, demon responsible." Forrest didn't sound like he was too sure about the demon part, and Maggie wasn't quite sure why.

"Well, let me see!" Maggie demanded, and the soldiers set the bag down. Pulling out a bowie knife strapped to his waist, Forrest split the bag open.

Maggie stepped forward and peered into the bag. The charred and gooey remains of the...Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!...stared back at her with runny dark eyes.

"Maybe you'd better tell me what happened out there tonight," Maggie said, smothering a horrified laugh.

Apparently, Forrest had taken a squad out on patrol that night. It had been quiet on campus for quite some time, so the commandos, while not careless, were somewhat less alert than usual.

Noticing a gleam of white near the snack truck parked next to the cafeteria, Forrest silently motioned the squad to form up and approach quietly. Upon arriving at the truck, they could see a large round object sticking out of the back end of the truck, and the van shaking back and forth. Circling around, Forrest approached to find the round object was, in fact, the very prominent rear end of a large and squishy demon of indeterminate origin. He knew it was squishy because he poked it with his taser gun to get its attention.

It backed out of the van and turned toward him. It was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, only it had bright red eyes and a chocolate mustache, which Forrest assumed came from the large can of chocoate syrup clutched in one poofy white hand.

"Go Away," it growled, hurling the empty can at Forrest's head, before turning back toward the supplies stowed in the truck. Pulling out a jar of cherries, it smashed the top open on the side of the door, then began pouring the cherries and juice down its throat.

Forrest didn't know whether to be afraid, or just sit down and laugh himself silly. He was used to seeing demons of all sorts, but...well, this was a marshmallow man of a different color.

He poked at it again, and asked, very politely, he thought, "Excuse me, but this is not an all-you-can-eat buffet. You'll have to come with us."

At this point, the demon, by now on a very obvious sugar high, charged the squad and sat down on them. A couple of men in the group had been quietly making cracks about Brand Name Representatives walking around campus. Their voices were abruptly silenced by the large amount of squishy white marshmallow butt covering their noses and mouths, and they began frantically trying to breathe.

Forrest finally realized that this was a demon who knew how to throw his weight around, and decided zapping it with his taser gun would be a good idea. It wasn't.

The demon absorbed the blast, and sat looking at him for a second. Then, it got up and began...roasting. A flicker of fire started at its feet, then quickly moved to engulf it. It began charring on the outside, then just...melted...all over the squad.

It had taken them a half hour to scrape up the majority of the demon and bag it with a trash bag taken from the truck. Covered in sticky goo and flakes of charred marshmallow demon, the squad had returned to the lab.

Maggie listened to the story in silence, then, still without saying a word, waved to the lab technicians to take away the bag for analysis.

Using as few words as possible, she looked at Forrest. "Report, on my desk, tomorrow." Forrest nodded miserably, then turned to follow his men into the showers.

Maggie went into the women's bathroom and laughed until she had tears streaming down her face. Then, she went in search of a bag of Stay Puft Marshmallows. That smell had made her hungry.