With Pati claiming the leadership throne for himself on top of setting an example to the others that he's not asking but rather declaring, the other survivors are not able to do anything except for clearing the way for him.
Amongst all of them, the captains are the ones that are noticeably stronger than the others.
Captains are people that are acknowledged by Mathian as having strength capable of fighting against more than one strong Zombies, the tests are as easy as fighting two or three Brawlers, Runners, or Heavy Walkers at the same time.
Because of that, the weak survivors rely most on these captains.
Even though the captains are respected amongst the gang members, they are nowhere near Mathian's level who was the leader of the gang. Everyone knows that he's the strongest here, he's just on another level.
Now Pati is a person that killed Mathian, that alone instills fears in them.
