"As the hunter is hunted down, she slays her enemies on sacred ground."

Boadicea

XIII

ONE FINAL EFFORT

In spite of the American superiority, the ambush forced the column to break formation, for the individual tanks to make themselves harder targets. That gave the Germans the time they needed to roll backwards, out of their hideouts, and then dash away. What they didn't expect was to run right into the eastern support column, the pincer movement which would close the trap.

"Enemy tanks, up ahead!" Simone's warning came an instant after Maria saw them: a couple tanks flanked by a trio of M3 half-tracks sporting the deadly quad machinegun mounts on their backs. Fortunately, they were making the mistake of having only the lead tank in the front, while the rest of the unit swiveled around a small set of trees. That would only give them a single chance to make the first shot count, and although still on the move, the lead Sherman was already aiming its gun… at the M3.

"Meike, slam Rabbit Team!" Maria suddenly yelled. The thought had just barely entered her head, but she felt that, whatever the cost, she would do everything in her power to keep her friends alive. The driver didn't even hesitate, and turned immediately, ramming the M3 cruising right beside the Panzer IV.

The impact threw everyone in both tanks around, making shoulders and heads hit the walls and the roar of crushing metal invade the fighting compartments, surmounting the desperate yelling of both crews. Bouncing away from the other tank, the M3 skidded slightly to the left, the tracks moaning as they dug into the mud, but miraculously staying intact.

Up ahead, the charging Americans could have never predicted such move, and fired nonetheless. The AP round aimed at Rabbit Team passed right between both German tanks as they bounced away from each other.

With its course changed by the collision, the M3 started to roll down the slope to its left. Struggling to maintain control over the Panzer IV, Meike decided to go after Rabbit Team. In her post, Maria had a hand over her head. Somehow she'd cut herself, and there was a trickle of blood running down her jaw line. Her mind was still too shaken to consider the fact, though, and there was still much to do.

"Simone, tell the others to go to the rally point." She ordered. "Meike, circle around that building. We'll try to keep them occupied for a while longer."

Beside her, holding to a bump in her head, Ysabelle could only find herself admiring her commander even more. "Maria…"

"We have to buy the others some time," Maria told Ysabelle apologetically. She had noticed the hint of awe and fear in the loader's voice, "or they'll never manage to escape the Americans."

"We understand." Hanna said. She was again looking through the gun sights, her expression impressively stoical.

"It's a last stand, isn't it?" Simone added. "For our friends and families."

"For our friends." Maria reiterated. "And for our families."

Meike, on the other hand, decided to remain silent, conforming herself to the events unraveling around her.

"Panzer vor." Ysabelle said, but without enthusiasm. The other girls repeated the motto, as though it was some sort of prayer. Around them the tank shook and roared, an amalgam of metal and moving parts now strained very close to its limits.

"You can hide here." Maria told Meike. Circling around a ruined house, surrounded by shrubbery and two stubby trees, the Panzer IV finally came to a halt.

A veil of silence, only broken by the revving engine, fell over the fighting compartment, as everyone ordered their thoughts and tried to come to terms with the blinding fear they were feeling.

This is where we make our stand, Ysabelle though. By this point she was tired of praying to entities she'd never believed in to begin with. So she wished for the only thing that made sense to her at the moment. She thought, let them come!

"It did what?" As Tatum reported what had just happened to the support column David could only open his mouth in disbelief.

"That's what he told me," the tank commander replied, "the Panzer rammed its comrade to save it from the shell."

"I've never seen such a thing before." David was forced to admit. "That's odd..."

"So, what now?"

The main column was now moving slowly over the road they'd been following before. The desperate escape of the German tanks had confused everyone. David's mind was once again working on the mystery behind that irregular tank squadron they were facing. Truth be told, very little in the way it behaved made any sense to him. They were obviously facing a quite capable and flexible commander, but, in the other hand, whoever that person was, he was also quite unusual in his decisions.

David's accomplishments in that war had been made mostly through carefully gauging the enemy commanders' behavior. The Germans officers, especially those born in the Prussian regions, had a very strong sense of duty and honor, and would be quite rigid in their orders, although thoroughly competent. Casualties were a part of the job, and they embraced them as inevitable.

But the person he was facing there was a different beast altogether, completely unpredictable. And that made him uneasy.

"Keep moving." He told Tatum.

Furthermore, it was evident now that the Panzergrenadiers had made a general retreat, and were going to join the SS troops coming from the north so they could pull back from the region together. Their numbers and equipment would preclude any immediate pursuit, especially from small units like the one in David's command right now.

Hidden behind the run-down house, the girls aboard the Panzer IV couldn't know about the doubts they'd planted in David's mind. Looking through the visors in the commander's cupola, Maria saw the column slowly entering her field of fire. In the front was one of the new Shermans, with a man standing over its back. Another tank followed, and then there was an M3 transport with the quad machinegun mounting.

"Are you seeing them?" Maria asked Hanna. There was a short moment of silence, Hanna's uneasy breathing barely audible over the rumbling of the engine.

"Yes." The gunner finally replied.

"Aim at the half-track. Fire when ready."

Another second passed, and then the KwK 40 thundered. Hanna's shot got the M3 right in the radiator grill, shattering the engine and the driver's cabin behind it. But it wasn't over yet, so Maria kept barking orders, her heart pounding fast, her cheeks red-hot, her mind uncomfortably cold.

"Meike, now!" She turned to Ysabelle. "Another AP round."

The loader had already stooped trying to guess what the commander was thinking, so she simply obeyed. Meanwhile, the tank rolled forward, turning around the house, and running away from the Americans.

Looking through his binoculars, David saw the German tank turning and searching for cover among the fences and barns to the north. Its attack had been well-calculated, cutting the advancing column in two. But now the tables would turn.

"Follow it!" David yelled at Tatum, moved by the heat of the moment. Also encouraged by the thrill of the hunt, Tatum passed on the orders and the Easy Eight rolled forward, roaring among the crop fields. It seemed a like too hasty of a decision, but, as usual, David knew what he was doing. Right beyond the house where the German tank had stayed hidden was a large open space, evident in the aerial photographs he'd studied for hours in the previous days. There the Panzer would be completely open to an attack.

"Now, lieutenant."

Tatum was grinning when he gave the order. The Sherman came to a halt and the gunner aimed. That 76mm gun would easily obliterate the Panzer!

Inside the German machine Maria was now gritting her teeth, the tension squeezing her heart almost too much for her to bear. There was something wrong there. A cold shiver ran down her neck once the realization hit her. They were in the open, completely exposed to any pursuer!

The orders came out of her mouth almost instinctively.

"Meike, hard right, now!"

The Easy Eight fired. The Panzer turned. The ground exploded.

Both David and Tatum dropped their jaws at the impossible miss. Right in front of them the German tank, still intact, was turning again, this time right into a pair of barns that would cover its escape.

"How come?" Tatum shook his head, to force himself out of the momentary trance, and yelled to his mike. "Fire at will!"

Still shocked with had just happened, but infuriated nonetheless, the American gunner pressed the trigger as soon as the loader had fed the M1 76mm gun with a fresh round. Once more, it was a heartbeat too late. The Panzer disappeared behind the barn, and then the round slammed through the stone walls, bringing down half of the building with it.

Dumbfounded, Tatum couldn't help but gaze at the crumbling building, the enemy tank all but gone.

"What was that about?"

Behind him, David leaned over the machinegun.

"We're not dealing with a regular tank squadron here."

"Should we pursue?"

David considered his question, but something else clicked in his head. The vertigo of the revelation almost made him dizzy, but he recovered quickly. "It's going to join with the SS tanks. I know where he's going."

He jumped out of the tank and walked to the Jeep now parked behind it.

"Freeman, Alisa, we're moving." He turned towards Tatum. "Can you lend me a few men?"

The lieutenant acknowledged and then sunk into the tank, while David chose a Bazooka team and a man holding a Browning Automatic Rifle. Once they were all in the back of the Jeep, David started walking to the passenger seat, but then he heard Tatum calling for him. He turned and saw him standing in the back of the Naomi, holding a Thompson submachine gun.

"Take this, sir." And he threw it to David, who grabbed it effortlessly.

"Thanks. While we're at this, I want you to move directly to the main road and form a line along the hills. Allow no Hun to pass through you."

Acknowledging the orders, Tatum saluted. "Understood."

"Just don't overexpose yourselves while you're at it. We've taken enough casualties as it is." David then jumped to the passenger's seat of the Jeep, Freeman already having turned on the engine, although his face betrayed his apprehension. The whole crew was nervous.

"Hope you aren't thinking on taking on the whole Kraut Army with these men now." The driver said, half-joking, half-serious.

"Don't you worry, laddie. I'm not going to do anything too reckless." David looked up at the clearing sky. "I've made a promise, after all."

And then he gestured for Freeman to drive to the closest hill. As the Jeep rolled over the uneven farmlands and he felt the Thompson shaking over his lap and the men complaining in the back of the vehicle, he recalled the promise he'd made, the words still fresh in his mind, although they were spoken almost one and a half year ago.

Words that once again made him remember why he admired her so dearly…