When Stanford woke up, all he felt was confusion. And pain. A hell of a lot of pain, considering he was bleeding from… fifteen different places. Including a head wound, which he most certainly did not have when he shook Bill’s hand. Wait…

Ford reached up and gingerly touched his head, immediately regretting it when the world started spinning and tipping around him. He was likely concussed. He felt something warm and wet trickling down his face from one eye. At first he thought he was crying, but then he realised he was bleeding. From just the one eye. It was an occurrence that had happened the multiple times Bill had possessed his form before, but never to this extent. He wondered how long Bill had been in control of him. It must have been quite a while.

Ford looked around him. He was in some sort of forest, one he didn’t recognise. How had he gotten this far? His whole body ached, and he could barely think straight through the fog in his mind. He knew something bad had to have happened - he was a scientist, he knew this kind of mental confusion was most definitely not normal.

But he was far, far too exhausted to do anything about it. He tried to lift his head, but he abandoned that almost immediately. It made the landscape around him spin and whirl, and he honestly felt like he was going to die. He just closed his eyes and waited for it to pass. And almost as soon as he closed his eyes, he passed out.

He woke up on the Mystery Shack couch, with no memory of how he got there, and a very irritated-looking Stanley opposite him.