It was about the time the gargantuan tentacles descended from the gymnasium ceiling, I realized the pep rally was likely canceled.

As I stood there, gaping at a sight that would make Stephen King lose bladder control, I felt a hand clap on my shoulder. I did what any self respecting cheerleader would do; dropped my pom poms and went full alley cat on whatever unfortunate beastie wanted to tangle with me–

"Janet! Whoa, easy there Xena! Ow!"

I opened one eye, squinting over my fists of fury at a very familiar face wincing as he felt his nose. Heat flooded my cheeks. It had to be him. "Toby?" I said in a not quite whisper, my gaze darting to the dangling tentacles currently examining the bleachers. Those bleachers were attached to the wall right? "Where is everyone else?"

I looked back in time to catch the incredulous expression on his face. His left eye twitched. "Everyone else? I pulled the fire alarm to get everyone out. Why are you here?"

I frowned. Fire alarm? I would have heard that right? Of course I was blasting 'In the Name of Love' pretty loud through the headphones, dancing around and lip synching as I got ready. I might have missed it, but the others didn't seem to hear anything either as they got ready. I shook my head. "There was no fire alarm," I said, "but I was the first one up here. The others were still in the girl's locker room when–"

Metal screeched. Oh yeah, I forgot about them.

"Get down," Toby yelped, shoving me to the floor as a chunk of bleachers whooshed overhead, smashing against the wall. He looked down at me. "Maybe we should get out of here," he whispered.

This close, his eyes were really green, like fresh mint green. I'd never seen that color but it was beautiful against his tan skin. Beautiful like the rest of him. I exhaled to cover the girly sigh. Figured it took a Lovecraftian level disaster to get him on top of me.

"Time and place, Janet, time and place," I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Can you, uh, roll off me or something so we can hustle to the exit," I said pointing my chin at the intact gym doors. No one else had come in. Aside from the odd echoing groans coming from somewhere high above the tentacles, the school seemed...quiet. Probably not a good sign.

"Let's stay low," said Toby, easing off me onto his hands and knees. "Come on," he said, crawling for the doors. I flipped over and followed suit, keenly aware how ill suited my outfit was to this activity. My thoughts were a mess as I shuffle crawled my way from the gym. Where was everyone? Where the hell did that tentacle rift in the ceiling come from? Why was Toby so calm? We just had a section of bleachers tossed over our heads. Why wasn't I more freaked out? Damn, his butt looked great in those jeans.

"Time and place," I said through my teeth.

He stood up in front of me, easing the door open with furtive glances over his shoulder as he held out a hand to me. "Come on."

I let Toby Weber, the guy I'd been mondo crushing on since freshman year, help me to my feet. He kept his hold on my hand as he pulled me into the hall, the urge to fist pump and crow with delight for this moment held in check by the uber creepy deserted school hallway.

"Okay, if there was no fire alarm, where's everyone?" Toby's fingers tightened briefly on mine as he spoke. Was it weird to be giddy and skeeved out at the same time?

The fluorescent lights were still on but dim, flickering in such a way that made the shadows pulse in the corner of my vision. The buzzing click click of the overhead lights was the only other sound to accompany our footsteps. It was eerie and didn't bode well. Toby must have felt equally ill at ease, keeping his hand firmly in mine.

There was a soft wet tearing sound. Actually several of them. I froze.

"Did you hear that?" My voice was a whisper, the sound swallowed up by the quiet. Toby met my eyes, mint green eyes stark in his face.

He licked his lips before speaking. "I think it came from the cafeteria."

I raised a brow as he took a step in that direction. "We really going to investigate?"

"You got any better ideas?" He reached for the push bar, easing it open with the same stealth he used to open the gym door.

"Yeah how about we get the–holy shitballs," I whispered screamed, forcing myself not to full on banshee screech as my eyes took in the scene in one unending grotesque cinema scape. The remains of the third period lunch crowd littered the floor. Pieces of them anyway. My stomach gave a roll as my eyes unwillingly observed little details.

That nail color really did nothing for Mary Turner, in life or death. Oh, Mike Green looked so much better with his head attached. Snarky sure but the off color inner monologue kept me from screaming bloody murder.

The culprit behind the blood and guts scene skittered among the piles of gore, or I should say culprits. I didn't get a good look at them until one paused to nibble on someone's finger, no bigger than a house cat, the cafeteria lights shining off its chitinous exoskeleton as its numerous legs twitched in place. That was one ugly house cat.

I swallowed hard, tugging hard on Toby's arm. He didn't move, his expression horrified as he took it all in. I knew how he felt, but this wasn't the place to melt down, not when one of those things could notice us at any moment.

The finger nibbler paused, its multitude of eyes shimmering in our direction. Uh oh. It emitted a chirping trill. The swarming mass paused as one and turned toward us.

"Move," I shouted in Toby's ear, putting all my strength into the next tug. I nearly pulled him off his feet as I yanked both of us back out of the cafeteria, slamming the doors shut behind us. I didn't stop there, releasing his hand to brace the doors with any object handy. I'd just wedged a folding chair firmly in place when the doors bucked from the combined weight of swarming carnivorous insectoid house cats from the nth dimension or whatever nightmare they crawled out of. Toby pulled me back, both of us falling over, scuttling backward on our butts until we hit the far wall. Miraculously the doors held, though for how long was anyone's guess.

"We have to get the hell out of here," I said. This was apocalypse level shenanigans happening here. There was an outside exit at the end of the hall, right by the cafeteria. We could be out of here in thirty seconds. I started for it, when Toby's hand yanked me back so hard my pony tail flailed around to smack me in the face.

"We can't," he said, his face bone white under the lights. A light film of sweat covered his brow. In three years, I don't think I'd ever seen Toby sweat. He was one of those sensitive artsty types, more likely to be covered in paint or streaks of clay. I hadn't expected him to be all that strong either but the grip he had on my wrist was iron.

"Let go of me," I snapped. Crush or not, I'd bludgeon him with the fire extinguisher and drag his unconscious body outside before I waited by that cafeteria another minute.

"We....we have to get to the library. I–we just have to get there. We can't leave," said Toby, clearly holding something back. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to ignore the wobbling cafeteria door as the xenomorph house cats made another go at it. Clearly we were going to have this out here, because despite our escape route being less than ten yards away, Toby wanted to go deeper into the school, with the monsters.

"Spit it out,' I said. He froze, looking all cornered and adorable.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Evasion failure to the max.

I counted off on my fingertips. "One, you're a terrible liar. Two, just because you're cute doesn't mean I'll believe whatever comes out of your mouth. Three, you obviously have a reason for staying in this death trap, which can't be any stupider than staying in said death trap," I said, holding up my three fingers for emphasis. "So, spit it out."

We both flinched at the clattering thump against the cafeteria door. "Preferably before the hell scorpion cats break through the door."

Toby's shoulders slumped as his eyes darted between the cafeteria door and me. Boy, did he look guilty. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he mumbled.

"What, you read from the Necronomicon?" At his blatant surprise I sneered at him. "Don't let the cheer leader outfit fool you, who do you think runs cult classic movie night?" Cheerleader by day, AV club kid and nerdette by night, oh the dual life I lead. Led. Crap, I needed to wrap my head around this end of the world situation.

"I—this is going to sound so stupid. I was sitting in the library when this voice, well voices boomed in my head," he kept peeking up at me as he spoke, clearly terrified of my reaction. "They said the Trials had begun and the realm was sealed to prevent contamination. They said it was time to assume my role as champion and save the world."

He was right, it did sound stupid but the gym had gone full on old gods and several of my friends had been eaten so stupid was relative. "Let's walk, shall we?" I grabbed his hand. One, since I seemed to be a fan of lists today, it made me feel better, and two, he seemed to move faster when I pulled him. "Any idea where these voices were coming from?"

"In my head? They didn't give a lot of specifics here," said Toby. The relief in his voice was palpable. He must have been truly scared of my reaction. Adorable.

"Time and place, Janet, time and place," I muttered.

"What?" Toby stumbled behind me.

"Nothing," I said, pausing at the stairwell door. "What did you tell these cosmic bullshit voices?"

"I..." He hesitated again. "I...I didn't say anything. I kinda freaked out and ran."

I stopped and turned to look at him. My best friend Lucy was much better at this sort of thing, the whole coo and comfort gig. I'd used her man handling tips on more than one occasion to score date with a guy that caught my eye but this was the end of the freaking world here. We were dealing with a whole new set of rules and while I could have told Toby it was okay to freak and run, I was dressed as Doomsday's cheerleader and hanging onto my sanity by a thread.

"You didn't finish hearing them out? Well, that was rude," I said. And the babbling continued. "Least you could have found out what they wanted from you before you tore out of there."

He yanked his hand away. "Are you kidding me? Think you would have done any better?"

I inhaled deep through my nose. "Point taken. That was unfair. Sorry, my friends are dead, this leotard skirt is hiking up my butt, and I am cranky."

He started to smile, drawing my attention to his mouth. I did the obvious thing after a statement like that, stood up on my tip toes and laid one on him. He tasted like mint, reminding me how green his eyes were. I pulled away, both of us sharing a look of stunned surprise. I hadn't actually thought through kissing him. Just went for it.

"What was that for?"

I licked my lips, pleased when his gaze flicked to my mouth. The confession buzzed on the tip of my tongue. I've crushed on your for the past three years and it's the end of the world. Figured now or never. Not the most romantic thing to say. I could feel Lucy's phantom hand slamming across my mouth to keep me from saying the words.

Instead I gave a noncommittal shrug. "Let's get to the library, shall we." The goofy grin on his face gave me a spark of hope until I opened the door. "Holy crap."

Good thing the library was upstairs. Noxious green slime bubbled at our feet, flooding up from the basement. It smoked where it met the tips of our shoes. I tried not to think about what that meant for the fate of the cheer squad I'd left in the basement locker room. Toby's grip on my hand tightened once again as we made a leap for the upper stairwell, landing awkward enough for a splash of slime to singe my skirts. Toby shouted and clasped me to him, pulling us both up the stairs in record time while he slapped at my sizzling skirts with one hand.

"Stop you'll burn yourself!" I grabbed him, inspecting his arm as we both caught our breaths on the upper landing. Somehow he managed to come out clean. I hadn't come out so lucky. I winced at a burn on my leg, nothing but the tiniest drop of the liquid got on my exposed skin, but that drop left a burn the size of a quarter. It felt like I'd pressed a hot curling iron there but it quickly numbed to a dull throb.

Tattered and burned, the completed doomsday cheerleader fashion, not the best look for me, but Toby checking me over for injury was an upside. He winced at the burn on my thigh. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Hey, it could have been a lot worse," I said, eyeing the slowly rising flood of acid slime. I hoped that would keep the insect cat demons from following us up. "You're stronger than you look."

He shrugged. "Never noticed before." He helped me to my first, grabbing my hand again.

Compared to the lower level of the school, the upper level was positively unicorns and rainbows. Even the lights were brighter. It was quiet, but a natural hush, without the looming ominous feeling the lower level held. I guess Apocalypse ground zero was the eye of the storm.

Toby led the way into the library. Scratch that. The upper floor wasn't quite untouched.

My breath fogged on the air as I shivered. The library held nearly two dozen students, all of them iced up in frosty sculptures. Ice glazed the shelves, dripping from corners and desks. Of course I'd find myself in a scanty outfit here, of course. I could already hear my teeth clicking together when warmth draped over my arms.

Toby wrapped his zip sweatshirt around me, frowning at the icescape surrounding us. "It wasn't like this when I left." I shook myself, the cold and the sight of his bare muscular arms temporarily disarming my ability to speak.

"Uh, you think the voices or whatever are still here?" I pulled his sweat shirt tight around me, relishing the warmth. It smelled of mint and soap and his natural boy smell that made me want to rub my face in it. "Time and place Janet."

Toby pulled me against him, sharing more warmth as he wrapped his arms around me. "You keep saying that," he whispered in my ear. His expression turned concerned as he looked at me. "I don't know if they, whoever they are, are still here, but we shouldn't stay here."

I shivered in agreement except where would we go with no answers. "How are you not freezing?"

He looked fair puzzled by that as well. "I don't feel it at all."

"Guess it's one of the perks of being the chosen one and all that," I chattered.

"I don't want it," said Toby, his voice quiet, so quiet I barely heard him over my shivering.

Call it stupidity, call it a need to distract him from himself, call it the chill hand of death clutching my ankles making me realize it really was now or never. Hell, I'd already kissed him, might as well plunge in headlong.

"I like you," I said, looking up the spare inches between us into those brilliant green eyes. "For years now. I wanted you to know that." What else could I tack on to that statement to make it more awkward. I wanted to confess before I freeze to death? Feel like warming me up with a kiss? "My timing's balls, I know–"

Toby cut me off with another kiss. This wasn't the quick smack I'd laid on him downstairs. This was a toe sizzling dazzler. There was a note of desperation in it. Perhaps a bit of a gallows kiss since both of us were probably going to bite it soon.

Light flared around us.

"Champion, you have returned to us."

The voices boomed around us. Toby jerked away, wide eyed.

"Do you–"

"I heard them too," I said, feeling heat creep up my neck. Just my luck to be caught macking it with the champion of Earth by beings of unknown origin.

"We are pleased you have returned. The world needs you Champion. The trials must continue forward but your companion..."

There was a long pause. Toby stiffened.

"I'm not leaving her alone here."

Oh. My. Girly. Parts. The blush got worse, along with the warm fuzzy feeling flooding my chest. The acid burn on my thigh was forgotten as I squinted up at the lights.

"Any rule that says the champion can't be accompanied by his own personal pep squad?"

There was a rumble of murmurs overhead before a reluctant booming voice replied. "What purpose would you serve, mortal girl?"

I refused to be ruffled by the 'mortal girl' comment. "Moral support."

"Would you rather I run again?" Toby made a face as he asked. "Wouldn't be remiss to have someone to keep the champion grounded."

Another pause.

"Very well, we find this arrangement, while unprecedented, falls within the parameters of the Champion's duty to the realm."

"What about the school? The others didn't have anything to do with this?" Toby glanced around the room as he spoke.

"If you successfully complete your trials all that has come to pass shall be rectified and restored."

I slapped his shoulder. "Hear that, we can fix this. No more running."

Toby swallowed, his arms deliciously flexing around me. "No more running."

A rift opened in the library before us, filling the air with the familiar burning scent of acid slime. "You may proceed to the first trial champion."

Toby unwrapped himself to stand beside me, holding hands once again. "You sure you want to follow a crush into some hell realm?"

I winked at him, swishing the burnt fringe of my cheer-leading outfit. "Go team, go."