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Captain were on the same page.
    They took what they wanted, recruiting more members. Ken established his base of operations in the ghost town of Bodie, California. He had been there once and remembered it was a defensible place, isolated, with a supply of water and land for subsistence. It was close enough to make raids into several neighboring communities and Thorton used the old mining complex as his personal fortress. There were many buildings still standing and it worked well to serve as a place for families to move into for a modicum of relative safety.
    That was the lure. Major Thorton would travel with his band of men, offering a place to stay and passing themselves off as the last of the military of the United States. When the people agreed, and many of them readily did, they were brought into the town and given a home. After they had been taken in, the families would realize their mistake. Women disappeared for days on end, returned to their husbands with broken spirits and bruises. Husbands who complained were immediately beaten, some severely. Children, especially young girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen, were taken from their families to the ‘fortress’. Young boys were sent to work on another part of the property, making sure their parents stayed in line. The youngest children stayed with their parents, but were used for coercion as needed.
    Major Ken Thorton not only was a bully, a brute, and a murderer, but he was also a molester. In his warped mind he believed he was owed the pleasure of the little ones and he preferred the fear he caused in them as to the disdain and contempt of the older women.
    Such was the world as Ken saw it as he surveyed his little kingdom. In truth, that was what it was. He ruled over the lives of the three hundred people who were luckless enough to fall into his trap, and he ruled over the lives of the seventy-plus men he had in his little ‘army’. Over the course of the next six months of the Upheaval, while the world reeled from the attacks of the undead, Thorton managed to recruit individuals to his cause, each one having the prerequisite of extremely low morals and dubious ethics. Those who showed intelligence or potential were ‘promoted’ within the ranks.
    Thorton was smart enough to realize he would need overwhelming force to ensure there would be no rebellion from his population, so after raiding a military surplus store for uniforms and supplies, Thorton set out arming his men with military weapons. Ft. Laramondo was the nearest source and after leading thirty men to the post, managed to eliminate the zombies and secure the weapons left behind when the fort had been overrun.
    With his new found wealth, Thorton had increased his area of operations and brought more people into the fold. He even had criteria for new recruits. Anyone surviving alone was included and anyone willing to kill a survivor, especially an annoying husband complaining about his wife being abused, was a shoe-in.
    Dissent among the ranks was dealt with by the captain and complainers never received a warning, just a bullet or knife in the back. Word spread quickly and the complaints fell to zero.
    In the general population, complaints were few since they were usually followed by a beating or a killing, but they persisted. Even now, two years after the Upheaval, people, especially new survivors, lured in by the fake military, brought up the fact that their rights were being violated. It was a common complaint and Major Thorton was becoming tired of it. Rights , he thought, what do these idiots care about rights? The major contemplated this as he stood naked before his window and looked out of his suite. He could see the town from his perch, a ramshackle ghost town re-populated back into existence. Bodie, California had been abandoned in the 1940’s, declared a historic site in the 1960’s, and served as a tourist attraction until the dead rose. Now it was a town again, tucked away from the