Potential Trigger Warning of brief mentions of graphic suicide.

Alexa couldn't get over if things went differently like if Jeff didn't go with Roger or if Jeff had left either later or earlier, he would have showed up at the Undertaker's doorstep instead and Matt would have lost his brother forever. However, things worked out and Jeff was alive and Matt wasn't a mourning wreck, so that was good. Now, the next step was planning on leaving the city. The four of them sat around the small coffee table in the living room with Riley and Jeff sitting on the floor and Matt and Alexa on the couch.

"Do you know which highway we are taking?" Jeff asked, curiously looking at the women.

"I-5N," Riley answered. "It'll take us straight through to Redding."

He blinked at her. "That goes through Sacramento."

"Yep."

"We need to avoid Sacramento."

They all frowned, looking at him.

"Why?" Alexa asked.

Jeff inhaled. "Undertaker runs half of Los Diablos. There's a crime lord that runs the entire city of Sacramento and it's worse than Los Diablos believe it nor not."

"You're joking," Matt dryly stated.

He looked at him. "The city is run by cutthroats. Here, you don't have to carry a gun on you or look over your shoulder every five seconds. It's safer. There, you look at one wrong guy, you're another body in the street."

Matt arched a brow. "You went there?"

He avoided his brother's gaze. "Uh…once or twice. Saw some shit like a guy getting beaten to an inch of his life for whatever reason. The crime lord goes by the King of Sacramento." He glanced at Matt, who just heavily exhaled through his nose as if internally screaming with eyes locked on him.

"We've got the map in the car," Riley commented, earning everyone's attention. "If ya wanna go over it."

"I have a map that is marked with smuggler routes, territories, and other dangerous zones to avoid them. I took it when I was running for the Undertaker, so it's reliable unless certain territories moved over the last year. Figured it would come in handy at some point."

All eyes slowly drifted back to Jeff.

Alexa had a tight, wide-eyed smile. "Anything else you want to share, Jeff?"

He looked at her. "I was a cocaine addict for two years and an alcoholic. Sober for almost a year now."

"You sure there's nothin' else, mate?" Riley waved a hand. "Just for shits and giggles."

He looked to the corner of his eye as if genuinely thinking, then shook his head. "Not really, no."

"Oh." She laughed. "If that is all, then can we check out the sketchy as hell map?"

"Sure." He got up and walked to his room.

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes squeezed shut. "He's going to be the death of me."

Riley giggled, crossing her legs. "He almost was, mate."

Jeff returned with a folded map in hand. He opened it up and laid on the coffee table. "Smuggling routes are black and territories are red. Boarder is green." He sat back down.

The majority of black highways were headed toward the east and south with nothing to the north. Territories ranged from crime lords' to scrapper camps were scattered through major cities and towns across the state. A green line tore across the state above the capitol with Redding miles away from it.

"Hooley dooley," Riley whispered in awe, scooting closer. "That's…worse than I thought."

"You ran all this?" Alexa asked, leaning forward to the map. She knew outside of the city was dangerous, but this was ridiculous. Red circles practically littered the entire state, but nothing was above Sacramento. Maybe that was a good thing?

He shook his head. "No. Usually just to Nevada's boarder."

Alexa felt bad for the older brother when he shifted in his seat. "We are definitely avoiding Sacramento…." she murmured. She tapped a highway that took a detour away from the capitol. "The 113 looks clear."

"We can only hope."

"You guys got weapons?" Riley looked at the two men.

"A gun," Matt answered.

"Good enough. We have three guns in total, six grenades, and plenty of bottles for Molotov cocktails, so that should be enough."

Jeff smiled at her. "You sure you don't want to run for Undertaker?"

"Ha! Thanks for the offer, mate, but I wanna leave this place."

Matt looked at the Aussie; leaning forward with curiosity in his eyes. "Can I ask you a question?"

Riley locked on him. "Shoot."

"How the hell did an Australian end up here? There's no way you arrived here before the Blast."

Jeff smirked. "That question has been bugging him since he met you."

"It has!"

They all laughed.

"Alright," Riley mused. "I can tell ya. I'm from a little town in south Straya. I was 21 when I came 'ere. The original boarder to Mexico was abandoned due to the Blast, havin' to be pushed back further into Mexico as the Irradiation Boarder as ya know. Roger smuggled me in through the Irradiation Boarder and took me to Los Diablos." She looked at Matt. "Roger's the guy that tried to turn your brother in. Don't worry, he's dead. Shot him myself. No, I didn't know he was workin' for 'Taker, so don't bring that up 'cause I really don't wanna think about that 'cause that just makes me nervous to be honest. If I had known he was workin' for 'Taker, I wouldn't 'ave–" She shook her head. "Actually no, then they would 'ave come after Jeff a lot quicker." She turned away, pondering as she murmured, "What did I see in that guy, anyway?" She giggled,, raising her head. "Wasteland romance, am I right?" She waved a hand. "Never mind, I'm ramblin'. Anyway, I didn't plan on stayin' 'ere long, but I did." She removed the necklace with the precious ring on it, handing it to Matt. "Ya can hold it."

The brothers' eyes widened at the sight of authentic jewelry as Matt carefully took it.

"Fire opal and silver," Riley explained. "From Australia herself. The only thing valuable I took with me. I promised myself I'd go home some day. Now, seventeen years later, I am."

"It's beautiful," Matt murmured, handing it to Jeff, then looked at her. "Wait. Seventeen years?…That makes you 38. Same age as me. You lived here for seventeen years by choice?" He looked at her like she was crazy, which she was. A little.

"Yep."

Jeff gingerly took the ring and admired the fiery, sparkling stone with flecks of blue and green. He grinned at her. "Do you know how much scrap you could–"

"Oi!" She laughed. "I don't trust ya, Hardy!"

They all laughed as he returned the necklace. "No," he chuckled, "seriously though, I'm glad you kept that safe."

"Me too." She hooked it back on her neck and tucked into her shirt.

"So…." Matt slowly began. "You said how you got here, but…why?"

Alexa pressed her lips together, gingerly looking at her best friend.

Riley weakly smirked at the Boyz. "You two are brothers, so you'd understand. I had a brother– four years older than me. Devin Voss. He moved to America when he was 22. A year later: Boom. I was seventeen. Bastard told us he'd come back. Never did, so I went lookin' for 'im. Grabbed a bag, his address, and my ring as a keepsake. I planned the whole thing and found the best way to get in was through Mexico. Met Roger, wham-bam, got through the boarder. After three months of searchin' for the bloody house, I found it." She pulled her legs up, resting her arms on her knees as her amber gaze drifted down. "Found the house. Walked inside and was greeted with the stench of death."

Alexa wanted to hug her friend, but knew Riley only hugged if necessary.

"Found my brother sittin' in a chair with his head blown apart with shotgun and brains on his lap." A broken smile formed on her lips. "Bastard said he'd come back. He didn't and didn't even think his little sister would go lookin' for 'im. Anyway, I ran out of the house, threw up, left, came back with petrol, dumped it in the house, walked out, set a Molotov cocktail on fire," her grin widened with a twinkle of madness in her eye, "threw it in the doorway, and BOOM!" She threw her hands in the air. "Watched it go up in flames!"

The brothers traded heavy glances, then back to the Australian.

She dropped her hands to the floor, looking up at the cracked ceiling, then locked at her gaze on the two of them. "Yeah, I threw everything away to find my brother. I had a happy life in Australia, but I needed to know if he was dead or alive. We never heard from 'im so I went lookin' for 'im. After I found out he was dead, decided to stay 'ere for a bit. No point rushin' off. Stayed longer than expected, but whatever."

"We? Us?" Jeff quietly wondered.

She looked at him. "Me and my mum. I left her, too, but I was gonna find out what happened to Devin. Needed answers, y'know?" She looked at the boys. "Alright. I told my story. What's yours?"

The brothers looked at each other, then to the women.

"Matt and I moved here with our dad from North Carolina when I was eleven," Jeff began, then gestured to Matt with his head, "he was thirteen. We just lost our mom and…dad wanted to get out, I guess. Three years later, the Blast happened and day was…bad." He bowed his head.

"It was nice one day then the next…hell," Matt heavily continued. "Chaos. I thought we were all going to die. We all did. Towers were down all over, electricity was out until back up generators and waterlines were open in parts of the city which took months. Then we heard about the radius spreading across to Utah. Everyone thought it was a bomb, but it was damn power plant." He heavily sighed. "Our dad died a year later from radiation. Gangs took over. Crime lords took over, then there was a point when the people revolted and wanted anarchy against the crime lords, so the crime lords pushed back, but remained in control."

"Eventually, things quieted down and the crime lords left the people alone," Jeff explained. "Los Diablos became a relatively quiet place after that and the military gave up on trying to reach the wasteland. The radius was too wide. Too many states." He deeply inhaled. "It was too big to try to save so many lives, so instead they put up the Irradiation Boarders."

"No one can get in," Matt eerily stated, "no one can get out." He smirked at the Australian. "Unless you're a little bit determined."

Riley grinned.

"Yep." Jeff smirked at his brother. "Hey, remember when Los Diablos officially became Los Diablos?"

He nodded, smiling. "Oh, yeah." He closed his right eye, held up a fist, and rasped, "'City of Angels is no more! It's the City of Devils now! Los Diablos!'" He dropped his hand and opened his eye, laughing. "That name clicked so fast all because of some guy on a soapbox!"

"Is that how it got the name?" Alexa laughed. "Because of a guy on a soapbox?"

"True story," Jeff chuckled. "We saw him ourselves right after the Blast."

"I gotta 'nother question," Riley said. "How did ya get in touch with ol' Maco?"

"Well, Matt and I grew up on WWF and then the Blast happened, so we just started practicing ourselves when we got older as an escape, then we found Jonny, and that was that." He looked at them. "Speaking of Jonny, the gym was closed yesterday. Any idea why?"

Riley looked at Alexa, who bowed her head, biting her lip. She looked back at Jeff. "All I heard it was a blissful encounter. He'll be fine. Oh," she turned back to Alexa, "we should probably tell 'im that we quit. Y'know, don't wanna be rude and just walk out." She deviously smiled.

Alexa gingerly looked at the brothers, who suspiciously glanced at her and looked at each other. She smiled. "You two were one of my favorites," she commented to break the tension. It was true, though.

Her best friend nodded in agreement. "Too right. I only picked up wrestlin' when I came 'ere. You two were one of the best tag teams Maco picked up."

The Boyz both chuckled.

Riley pointed at Alexa. "Your turn."

"My turn?" She blinked.

She shrugged. "Might as well. You're the only one born 'ere out of the four of us."

"You were born into this?" Jeff quietly asked, looking at Alexa with sympathy in his hazel eyes.

Alexa nodded. "Yeah. I was born six months after the Blast. My mom was killed by looters when I was little and my dad passed when I was sixteen due to radiation. He would tell me stories about life before the Blast and it was like a fairytale to me." She faintly smiled, but only for a second. "After he died, I was on my own. I used to go to Wasteland Wrestling and would teach myself things. I found Maco's gym and a guy named Brawn Strowman took me under his wing to train. He was one of my closest friends, then one day, he…disappeared. I never knew what happened to him. I met Riley two years ago at the gym." She flashed a smile at her best friend, who made a heart with her hands in return. "We became best friends and that was that. The rest, you know."

"Well," Jeff smirked, resting an arm on his knee. "look at us go."

They all chuckled with heavy hearts.

Matt looked at them. "So, when we were planning on leaving?"

"We were thinking tomorrow morning," Alexa answered. She looked at Riley. "If you want to properly quit or say goodbye to Maco, we should do that today."

Riley nodded. "Too right. I just want to rub it in his face just a bit more." She smiled at the hosts, standing up along with Alexa. "Well, we'll see ya boys early tomorrow."

"Wait," Jeff said, getting to his feet. "You know what happened to Jonny, don't you?"

Alexa bowed her head, wringing her hands. "I…broke his knee with a wrench and punched him in the eye."

"What?" Both Hardys lurched back.

"Told ya it was a blissful encounter," Riley grumbled.

She looked at them. "He wanted to make sure Kane did damage to you. He was going to pay you two extra to lose and wanted at least one of you to be an inch to the medic's door." She looked at Jeff. "He wanted to find a way to keep you down. He wasn't even happy that you were clean! He said that he was sure that you'd be dead within a year that he would have betted scrap on it. He was upset that Matt left with you because he didn't understand why anyone would be loyal in the wasteland in general." She looked at the eldest brother. "He wanted you to turn your back on your brother for good." She bowed her head, gently fiddling with her fingers. "He wanted to punish both of you." She gingerly raised her head.

"He also said that Lexi had no reason to be happy or nice in the wasteland," Riley spat. "He wanted everyone to break one way or another. I wanna pay this dipstick a visit 'cause I wanna tell 'im that we quit. For good."

Jeff stared at Alexa as if trying to compute everything that he just heard. "So you broke his knee?"

"I snapped! I wasn't going to let him talk that about my friends or myself!" She crossed her arms. "I will not apologize for it either."

Jeff looked at Matt, crossing his arms. "I have to admit, I kind of want to see Jonny now. Sounds like he has a bone to pick with us."

Matt thoughtfully nodded. "You're right. We should go, but," he firmly pointed at Alexa. "No wrenches." He pointed to Jeff. "No shady deals or vanishing. I want to end this nightmare of a day as normal as possible."

Riley grinned, pointing to the front door with her thumb. "I got Molotovs–"

Matt stared into her soul.

She giggled. "I'm kiddin', mate. Alright, let's go!" She spun on her heel and led the way out.

Jeff scoffed, following. "What shady deal would I make with Jonny, anyway?"

Alexa smiled up at him. "If he paid you to win, you'd tell everyone how great of a boss he is?"

He busted up laughing.

Alexa felt nervous of seeing Maco again. Not because she was afraid of being fired obviously, but she never purposely hurt anyone like that before. All because he was being cruel to her and her friends. Well, that's all she ever really had in her life. If he spoke ill about Riley, she wouldn't know what she would have done then and didn't want to think about it. She wasn't as close to the Boyz, but they certainly had her friendship and Jeff just went through his own personal hell if not more. The last thing he needed was Jonathan Macowitts, his own boss, trying to pull him back down. She stuck close the brothers as Riley took the lead through the gym, down the hall to the office where the boss was just starting to lock the door with homemade crutches under his arms and a cast made with four pieces of wood tapped together around the leg. His left eye was bruised.

Maco curled a lip. "Oh, God, every time I see you four I expect trouble. What do you want this time?" He glared at Alexa, who refused to break eye contact.

Riley folded her arms. "Macowitts. We quit."

He rolled his eyes. "Riiight because there is so much going on that you all have better things to do." His narrowed eyes. "Well, maybe one of you, but you all have matches tomorrow. Get training."

Alexa stepped forward with a smile. "No, Maco," she sweetly began, gesturing to the group. "We all quit."

"Okay," Jonathan heavily sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Everything was fine until you two," he glared at the Hardy Boyz, pointing at them, "showed up and you," he pointed at Alexa, "psycho-bitch, gave me a black eye and broke my leg!"

Jeff gently stepped in front of Alexa, staring down the boss. "Call her that again and I'm going to break something else."

Riley placed a hand on his shoulder to have to back off, smirking at the boss. "Listen. Maco. We're the Sanguine Wanderers for a reason. We stay positive despite our situation and Lexi's a ball of bleedin' sunshine, she is, so congrats, mate." She wickedly grinned, snapping finger guns. "Ya got yer ass kicked by Five Feet of Fury who smiles about it! Ha!"

Macowitts sneered. "You four need me. I know that because those two came back."

Matt silently approached the boss, making the women and his brother step aside. "For the record," his voice was dangerously low, peering down at the shorter man, "I am never turning my back on my brother and if Lexi hadn't kicked your ass, I would have done so right now. I'd be damned if I turned my back on my own brother. So, no, we don't need you." He turned and walked away.

Jeff gave the man a warning glare before following his brother with the two, grinning women at his heel.

"Don't ever think about leaving me again," Matt lowly warned.

Alexa and Riley glanced at each other, slowly frowning.

"I promise I won't," Jeff replied once they were outside. "You've been silent since we left the house."

Matt spun to his brother, making the Wanderers glance at each other in surprise. "Yeah, because I'm pissed! Relieved that you're alive, but pissed. You scared the living hell out of me! I thought you were dead! When I went to get supplies, I didn't think that was the last possible time I was going to see my little brother! I came home and you were gone and a note was left that basically read: it's for the best because it's not me who's getting killed and I'll see you on the other side. What would you do if I was trying to convince you to hand me over to a crime lord, huh? 'Sell me out, Jeff! Just do it, Jeff. It's better than both us getting killed!' You might as well have asked me to put you down myself and the Undertaker already gave me that option!"

The Wanderers slowly looked at each other, uncertain of whether to move or not. Their gazes drifted back to the scene.

"That's not even the worst part!" Matt continued, voice cracking. "You honestly thought I'd be okay? You thought I could hand you over to the Undertaker and say, 'Here's my brother! I hope you found a good grave for him' or 'Jeff surrendered. Oh, well. I only hope he was shot in the back of the head!' How could you think I would be okay?"

Riley bowed her head with a soft shake.

"Matt," Jeff croaked. "I was trying to fix things. I couldn't have let you–"

"We're the only family we have left, Jeff, and you left me!"

"You were going to leave me on Thursday if I didn't do anything! You're more stable than I am! You would have done better–"

"No, Jeff," he deeply inhaled, rubbing his face with both hands. "No, I wouldn't have done better."

Jeff's breathing became shaky and buried the palms of his hands into his eyes as his brother pulled him close. He sobbed into his brother's shoulder as his fingers dug into his scalp. He shook like a leaf as Matt held him like a damn lifeline.

Alexa turned to her friend, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" she whispered.

"My brother left me," she quietly growled, deeply inhaling as tears rolled down her cheeks. She roughly whipped them away. "I'm fine. They're lucky and they better bleedin' know it."

"We're okay." Matt placed a firm hand on the back of his little brother's head, looking him in the eyes as his own were red. "We are going to be okay."

Jeff swallowed, nodding. "Yeah." He noticed the Wanderers with a crooked smile. "Well, that was embarrassing."

Riley shrugged. "No worries. Lexi's last break down was beating a man's kneecap in." She beamed. "We all 'ave our moments."