Read DEAD: Reclamation: Book 10 of the DEAD series for Free Online Page A

crawled forward on his stomach. After scanning the area with his binoculars, he handed them to Bill Pitts. For the briefest of moments, he had the sensation of just how surreal the situation was that he currently found himself.
    Bill Pitts had been a hard-nosed sergeant back in the days before the world went haywire with the rise of the dead. Then he had been a deserter. And to round it off, he had been the leader of a superior force that could have wiped his little community off the face of the earth. Instead, there was an accord reached. It had met with some resistance, but in the end, it had actually proved to be a huge benefit for both communities.
    Over the past decade, the two communities had come together. They had brought in over five thousand other survivors. In addition, they now had electricity using a combination of wind and solar energy.
    It was a bit like the Old West; and there was a wildness to it that some found to be too much. However, the truth was that they were prospering as a community. And that was the current problem. There were those who wanted what the people of Swift-Hope had built.
    The fact that they had built a corridor that allowed travel between the two small hubs as well as the ability of folks to settle along the length of that corridor only made them a larger target. There had been resistance to the idea of that expansion as well. Jody and his closest friend Danny O’ Leary had almost come to blows over it.
    The plan was to clear a straight line between Hope and Swifton. They would build a barricade, as well as place towers along the length. The idea was that, if these two communities were going to co-exist, then it would be a benefit to ensure that travel between the two was not risky. Both communities began to go to work on the project. And it was actually a surprise when people began to volunteer to take residence in the watch towers that were built along the length.
    These towers were each a miniature fortress. Once completed, the person or persons who volunteered to live there became part of the community security. Flags were made to send messages much like coastal warning flags.
    Over the years, there had been setbacks. Twice, massive swarms of the undead had come. Both times it had been like weathering the fury of a tsunami. You could do nothing but watch the wave of undead slam into the defenses and then do everything possible to minimize the destruction when they breached the perimeter wall.
    That had also been the reason for another form of security. It was clear that the undead reacted to sound. It was for that reason that they had devised a second line of defense: turrets.
    Based on the design of the rook in a chess set, they had built single stone structures in a ring around their communities and the travel corridor. These had been built about a mile out and were also manned by volunteers. The incentives for taking these isolated positions were regular supply deliveries of the finest produce and meat, along with a variety of goods created by citizens of the duo-city now known as Swift-Hope.
    It was the job of these outposts to not only notify the community of impending danger, but also to commence the distraction protocol. That included the lighting of a series of huge bonfires that would hopefully alter the course of an incoming swarm. Additionally, there were a series of hand-cranked sirens that were placed in a line. Once again, these would ideally serve to lure the leading edge of a large concentration of the undead on a new course.
    Three days ago, a runner from Turret Eleven arrived. Turret Ten had not raised its flag in response to the regular check in that the turrets did with each other as just another layer of security as well as to help ease some of the feelings of isolation that might set in over time.
    They had sent a runner to Turret Ten. That runner had not returned. This was not the first time they had faced hostiles in the form of humans. Most of the time it was