Stan's eyes are huge now, he only knows his mouth is hanging open when something comes dripping out of it, drool, blood, he hunches over, spits half out, ends up swallowing the other half, almost chokes on it and once he looks back up again it's still there, tall, healthy, glasses and all, looking just like Stan always thought he would. Sounding just like him, too, and Stan's scrambling forward, tearing some of those scabs on his legs and knees open, staggering up, feeling that part of his mind that he didn't dare to touch opening up because he'll let himself pray, sure, 'cause the big guy in the sky's someone he knows ain't comin' and that part of him's been all boxed up since the moment those big guys put their big arms over his shoulders like pals and steered him toward the back of their teeny old car but it's opening up now.
"Hot damn," he says, tongue thick enough to fill up his whole mouth, moving like it ain't got enough room but moving, anyway, because you just fucking try to keep Stan Pines from talkin'. "Whatever they cut, cut that shit with, it, it-" maybe that's what he says, or maybe he just sobs, maybe he does both, a big sob that hunches him forward and sends a little more of that blood-drool leaking between his teeth and rolling over his lip but he tries to grab that shirt in front of him even when another sob comes out, tries to pull back toward that car because even a real granddaddy of a hallucination like this don't mean he don't have to move move, "move, go, gotta' go, you, you're the kinda' hallucination that sticks around, right, I, I had a friend, I knew a guy, thought he was talkin' to uh, that guy from uh, that movie with the aliens and the, the ships for like, three days straight one time," he falls to his knees in front of the dashboard again, makes that little noise because his fuckin' knees, his legs, "'cause I, I really need, I'll just call you once I get away far enough and hear your voice for a sec but uh, 'till then you and me can be road buddies, right? Ah, shit!" and he pulls his hand back to his chest and cradles it, stupid, babying his hand just 'cause of a stupid zap from a stupid wire that won't stay still no matter how many times he tries to grab it, and he stretches his other hand out to try and grab it again 'cause, "they're gonna', they're gonna' get here I can't, I can't walk that fast I, I need to go, I just, if I can just-" that wire's right there, and that other one's right there, and if he can just, he can just-
i refuse
"Hot damn," he says, tongue thick enough to fill up his whole mouth, moving like it ain't got enough room but moving, anyway, because you just fucking try to keep Stan Pines from talkin'. "Whatever they cut, cut that shit with, it, it-" maybe that's what he says, or maybe he just sobs, maybe he does both, a big sob that hunches him forward and sends a little more of that blood-drool leaking between his teeth and rolling over his lip but he tries to grab that shirt in front of him even when another sob comes out, tries to pull back toward that car because even a real granddaddy of a hallucination like this don't mean he don't have to move move, "move, go, gotta' go, you, you're the kinda' hallucination that sticks around, right, I, I had a friend, I knew a guy, thought he was talkin' to uh, that guy from uh, that movie with the aliens and the, the ships for like, three days straight one time," he falls to his knees in front of the dashboard again, makes that little noise because his fuckin' knees, his legs, "'cause I, I really need, I'll just call you once I get away far enough and hear your voice for a sec but uh, 'till then you and me can be road buddies, right? Ah, shit!" and he pulls his hand back to his chest and cradles it, stupid, babying his hand just 'cause of a stupid zap from a stupid wire that won't stay still no matter how many times he tries to grab it, and he stretches his other hand out to try and grab it again 'cause, "they're gonna', they're gonna' get here I can't, I can't walk that fast I, I need to go, I just, if I can just-" that wire's right there, and that other one's right there, and if he can just, he can just-