As Beth walked back across the street to the motel, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of relief after her talk with Daryl Dixon; she could take comfort in the fact that he was, at least, a little bit more human than she'd thought before. She also felt a little more confident that he was going to get the job done on the truck without doing anything to spite her. He was a puzzle piece in the plan that may actually fit without her forcing it into place.

"You embarrassed yourself a bit, but you kinda kept you shit together," Beth mumbled to herself as she unlocked her motel room door. Now all she had to do was call her mom.

Beth strode across the room to where she put her cellphone on the night stand and picked it up. She couldn't remember if she had service in the motel room, but it was worth a try. Besides, she couldn't exactly call from the room phone, she was already supposed to be on the road. However, to Beth's dismay, when she clicked the center button, the screen remained blank.

She'd forgotten to charge it overnight.

No worries, Beth thought. It didn't take long for a phone to charge anyway. She could wait it out. There was no way her mom would spiral out of control if her call was ten minutes later than it was supposed to be. So she got her charger out, plugged her phone in, and sat on the bed to wait.

As Beth waited, her sitting position turned into a slump; and her slump turned in to her lying on top of the bed sheet. Which turned into her blinking slowly. Then, finally, it turned into her closing her eyes completely just as the screen came back to life.

. . .

It was only two minutes. Beth swore she had only been asleep for two minutes before her eyes fluttered open. However, the facts seemed to disagree with her when she found herself sprawled out in the middle of the bed with drool trickling down her cheek.

Beth shot up into a sitting position as soon as she came fully to. Dammit. How long had she been asleep for? She quickly reached for her phone – almost tearing it from the charging chord – and pressed the center button again. This time it lit up, but she felt all blood drain from her face.

It was 2:00 pm, and she had no service.

"Oh no…no, no, no!" Beth sprang from the bed and ran around the room, desperately looking for bars. But there wasn't even one.

DAMMIT!

Beth pulled her shoes on, grabbed her key and ran immediately to the front desk. As she tore the door open she could see that Tara was still there, reading a new magazine. Beth came to a halt and breathlessly spoke. "Tara…I -".

Tara looked up from her magazine. "Yes?"

Beth could only get one word out. "Service."

"You gotta be a little more specific here. You want car service, cell service?" Tara pause and looked Beth up and down. "…Sexual service?"

"Cell…" Beth breathed out, too frantic to even try to comprehend what the last comment was supposed to mean. "I need cell service."

"Ah, well the other two I could have pointed you in the right direction. But there ain't a lot of cell service around here…'cept for maybe on the ridge…"

"What ridge?"

"It's on the south side of town…but I wouldn't go up there unless…."

Beth didn't get to hear the rest of what Tara had to say though. Before she could finish her sentence the blonde was tearing out the door again. Toward what she believed was the south part of town, and the location of the ridge.

. . .

It didn't take long for Beth to realize why Tara recommended not going up the ridge. It was steep and, once again, she was very unprepared. Her jeans and hoodie were sticking to her skin from how badly she was sweating; and with every step she took, rocks and sand filled her stupid ballet flats.

Every so often, Beth would stop, stick her phone up, and check for service. But every time she did, the empty little bars taunted her. How was she going to explain this one? It was almost 3:00 pm and her mom hadn't heard a single word from her. Annette had already probably called her and the condo a million times. Or worse. She may have called the police. Was Beth technically a missing person already? She hadn't been allowed to watch crime shows, she didn't know how many hours she had to be MIA to be legally missing.

Beth stopped, forgetting about her phone and feeling her stomach turn as she thought about police involvement. It made her sweat even more…it made her want to throw up…or maybe curl up and cry. She was shaking – practically vibrating – from how nervous the idea made her.

Then Beth realized…she actually was vibrating…or rather her phone was.

Beth lifted up her phone as notifications started popping up on her screen:

4 missed calls from Mom.

3 text messages from Mom.

2 missed calls from Darcy.

1 missed call from Maggie.

8 text messages from Maggie.

3 voicemails.

Beth's eyes went wide. She swallowed hard, trying to decide what to do first. She could call her mom right away…but Maggie was with her…Maggie knew more. She quickly typed in her passcode and clicked on her sister's message. They were less than helpful though. It was just her name….in different variations…eight time over.

Her fingers moved quickly as Beth typed out a message to Maggie:

What does she know? How mad is she?

Beth hit send and watched as her message delivered. She held her breath as the little bubble indicating her sister was responding appeared. But before Maggie could finish her typing, a fifth call from Annette came through.

Beth chose to try to take the nonchalant route and pressed her phone to her ear. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi? Hi is all you have to say to me?!"

"Mom…I didn't have service…I'm sorry."

"I thought you were dead!" Beth's mom groaned.

Beth swallowed hard again. "Well…I'm not…and I'm almost at the condo!"

"I was going to call the police," Annette said. Beth breathed in. "I didn't though. You're lucky your sister talked me down."

"Mom I – I thought you were okay with this. I know I said I'd call you every day…but it's hard." Beth knew she was guilt tripping her mother – and she hated it – but she knew things could only get worse if Annette was this upset.

Her mother sighed on the other end and Beth heard a slight sniffle. "Okay…okay. You're right. How about you call me when you miss me...which should still be every day."

"…Mom…"

"Okay…every other day."

Beth hoped to be out of this hell hole within the next two days and she knew that was the best offer she was going to get. "Okay, every other day. I gotta get on the road again now though. I love you!"

"I love you too, Sweetheart!"

Immediately after hanging up, Beth let out a huge, humid breath of relief. At least she had adverted another crisis. Lying was becoming a little bit easier for her. Which wasn't a fact she liked, but it helped her keep one foot in front of the other; and while she was making her way back down the ridge that's exactly what she needed