Hans came out of the room to look for Hetzer. He saw her helping some children who were separated from their parents.
She was frantically looking for them screaming, mother, father along with the children.
Hans thought for a second how naive this girl was. No one was batting her an eye and were trying to rush to the village gate.
But thankfully the number of people was not so very high in the village, and soon a middle aged woman rushed to the girl.
She took the children from her and hugged them before thanking Hetzer and leaving.
Hetzer returned back to see Hans and rushed towards him. Her child like attitude made Hans smile a bit even in such an uncertain condition.
Once Hetzer came near him, Hans patted her head and commended her for her action, which made the young girl wiggle like a puppy.
However, this happy time was short lived and Hans focused on the more serious matters at hand.
He explained what he heard from the chief and his desire to at least save the people of this village. To which Hetzer agreed.
Soon Asper also came out of his house along with his wife and joined the group of people.
When Hans asked where they'd go, he replied that the brick walls of the city maybe able to provide them some cover.
Soon, darkness took over the entire land. Everyone panicked.
"MONSTERS!!!" A guard outside screamed.
Now it was too late and there was no way the villagers could go outside in such a situation.
Without waiting for anything, Hans took measures. He stepped forward and spoke loudly.
"Shelter the people inside your house. Hetzer and I will stop them." He said looking at the frightened and pale Asper.
After that Hans rushed outside the village while Hetzer followed. Meanwhile Asper took all the people inside his house.
The militia outside were shaking in fear. There was no way they could've faced the monsters in front of them.
They however, didn't notice Hans and Hetzer behind them as their eyes were fixated on the dark horizon, from where occasional growls of monsters could be heard.
Hetzer under Hans' orders, turned into the Jagdpanzer 38t to fight those off. Hans entered inside.
"I'll cover the flanks with the MG. You use the main gun to take out the ones in front." He ordered.
The vehicle moved with another disturbing sound. A distinguishable sound of the Czech engine.
In surprise the militia turned around to see what was behind them, only to have their life sucked away at the sight of a huge growling turtle like monster with a long barrel in its nose.
Including eyes that emitted bright white light that made the dark world visible around them, even more that the torches they were holding.
However, instead of the appearance of the monster, what frightened them most was that it appeared behind them and what implications it held.
They couldn't believe that the village is already run over by monsters.
"Th-then does this means...." One of them said in a shaky voice.
"H-how.... how c-could this h-h-happen?!" said another one dropping his spear and torch on the ground.
The militiamen feared the worst had already happened and fell down on the ground. They lost their will to fight.
Hans decided to ignore them. He could never explain to them what this vehicle was and what he was trying to do.
Besides, it's not like the commander of a Jagdpanzer 38t can communicate with the troops outside. There was no commander's cupola in that thing.
The only way Hans could see the outside world was through the periscope that's also used as a control stick for the MG outside.
The vehicle moved in to position itself between the monsters, the village gate and the militia.
A young militia out of rage tried to attack the monster with his spear and torch but failed to make even a dent in the 60mm thick steel armour of the vehicle.
After Hetzer assured Hans that this attack didn't bother her, he decided to ignore it.
This show of power made all the others give up even the slightest hope of revenge or resistance.
Thinking that their loved ones are already dead, they prepared for their own demise as well.
Hans inside the vehicle could see the monsters appear from the direction of the forest they crossed this morning.
The hideously ugly beasts that Hans never even saw in his nightmare were illuminated by the lights of the Jagdpanzer 38t.
Horrified as he was, as a German soldier Hans could not falter now.
"What should I do commander?" Asked a tensed and horrified Hetzer in a metallic voice.
"Use the HE shells and blow them up. We have to keep holding them off through the entire night." Hans said in a cold voice.
The militiamen who had closed their eyes and waited for when the roaring monster would eat them opened their eyes in surprise hearing the loud boom noise.
They saw a ball of fire emerge from the distance. Petrified as they were, they still couldn't understand what was happening.
They closed their eyes again thinking that maybe this monster was just making sure the others won't take a bite out of it's dinner.
Inside the Jagdpanzer 38t, Hans was not really surprised with the outcome of the first round of firing.
Hetzer continued firing at the monsters blowing up bunch of them everytime.
But the monsters were very fast and kept approaching relentlessly everytime the vehicle stopped to reload the main gun, the monsters would come closer and closer.
Hans fired tracers from the remote controlled machine gun that is mounted on the hull of the vehicle.
Hetzer tried her best to reload herself as fast as possible and get back into the fight. While Hans held the monsters off with the MG.
He allowed the rest of the time to let the MG cool down. Since there was no way he could go outside to change the barrel.
Hans also noticed that some monsters were trying to flank the vehicle. So he quickly turned the machine gun around and fired the red tracer bullets at them.
To his relief, it seemed that the 7.92 X 57mm mauser bullets were able to hurt and kill these monsters. But he had to make sure he didn't over heat the thing.
The tracers lit up the monsters only for a brief moment allowing Hans to see them approaching.
Hans had to keep an eye on every direction to make sure that they couldn't harm the militiamen or flank themselves.
This way they kept fighting off the monsters. But suddenly the monsters stopped coming from the front.
Hans didn't notice this. But what he did notice that the number of monsters attacking from the flanks increased. Forcing him to over exert his MG.
Hans was worried that if this went on the whole night the vehicle would be out of ammo.
But magically, everytime it seemed that Hetzer herself could reload the required ammunition.
This provided some ease to Hans. But as he saw the monsters were increasing in their flanks another worry took over him.
He saw that Hetzer now turned around towards the side where the militia were sitting on the ground.
They were sitting all this time, oblivious of the situation around them, waiting for their demise.
But as they felt a gush of air fly past them making no sound, they opened their eyes to see the monster straight in front of them.
But still it didn't attack them, rather it was fighting the other monsters and blowing them up to bits with large fireballs.
Maybe, just maybe, this monster was a Godsend to help them. The militiamen couldn't help but wonder.
Hetzer spoke out to them without consulting Hans.
"Hey, go to the village, everyone is in the chief's house." The metallic voice resonated through the open field.
The militiamen couldn't understand what the monster said, while Hans was surprised that Hetzer spoke out on her own and to the same men who glared at her just a few hours ago.
However, the militias didn't move from their position. They just remained in their position not knowing what to do.
Seeing that there was no reaction amongst them, Hans advised the girl to focus on the monsters.
Hetzer again fired an HE shell that blew up another bunch of monsters in a huge fireball. While Hans fired tracers to hold them off.
In the process Hans almost forgot about overheating the MG and suddenly it stopped firing.
"Commander the MG is out of Ammo. I need some time to reload it." Hetzer said before Hans could understand anything.