Sarah immediately screamed and jumped back, falling backwards and landing on her right hand.

The man on the ground continued snapping his jaw like an angry dog. He was using one hand to grab at the pavement, as if trying to pull himself forward.

Tom stared wide-eyed at the injured man as Andy inspected Sarah’s wrist. Her shirt was ripped where the man bit her, and there was blood dribbling out of what looked like a superficial wound.

"Christ, did he bite her?" Tom asked, tearing his eyes from the man on the road and getting a closer look at Sarah’s injury.

"Motherfucker," Andy swore. "What the hell is wrong with that guy?"

The man was still writhing on the ground, gnashing his teeth and drooling on the pavement.

"I think I just scraped my hand on the pavement when I fell," Sarah said, glancing down at the man on the ground. "He didn’t bite me. I would’ve felt it."

Andy looked at her wrist again. She covered the wound with the sleeve of her shirt and looked up at him.

"I’m fine. I just need a Band-Aid," she said to him. "It’s just a scrape."

Tom kneeled carefully by the man on the ground, just out of the range of his one moving arm. As he studied the man, his stomach rapidly became queasy again.

The man’s legs were both obviously broken. His left leg was bent 90 degrees at the knee in the wrong direction, and his right leg was snapped at the ankle, with a dark blood stain on his pants cuff. His left arm was under his body and looked mangled beyond repair.

Tom stood up and walked slowly around the man. He leaned in closely, examining him. The sandy hair just above his right ear was bloody, and there was a small bit of gooey substance poking through a crack in his head. It reminded Tom of the stress ball he had on his desk by his computer. It had a tear in the cover, so when he squeezed it, the gel protruded slightly through the rip.

Tom backed up slowly. The man on the ground was fixated on Sarah and Andy, and was continually snapping his jaw. Every so often he made a slight growling or grunting sound.

"This guy’s seriously busted up," Tom said. "When we hit him we must have messed up his brain or something."

"No shit," Andy replied. "He just tried to take a bite out of my girlfriend. Of course he’s fucked up."

"Something is not right," Sarah said, backing away from the man. "Shouldn’t he be dead? I mean, look at him."

"God damn it," Andy muttered, ignoring her statement. "Sarah do you have your phone?"

"It’s in the van," she said.

Sarah waved at the vehicle and made a gesture like she was talking on the phone.

Mary leaned out the open door and yelled, "I just tried to. I’m still not getting anything!"

Sarah, Andy and Tom all glanced at each other.

"Shit," Andy muttered. "We can’t just leave this guy here."

"One of us could take the van into the nearest town, and the rest of us could stay here" Tom suggested.

Andy nodded. "We’re only a few miles away from Allentown. It wouldn’t take long to get there and back. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes max."

"I don’t think that’s a good idea," Sarah said. "What if those guys from the store come?"

"They won’t," Andy replied. "We’re a good 15 miles away from that store. Even if they followed the road, at the rate they were moving, it’d probably take them all day to get this far. Assuming they don’t get run over, like our friend here." He pointed at the man on the ground.

"Real nice," Sarah said in disgust. "I still don’t think it’s a good idea."

"We don’t have much of a choice," Tom said. "Andy’s right. We can’t leave this guy here. At least one of us will have to go track someone down."

"Well, we should at least let Mary, Kate and Kevin know what’s going on," Sarah said, pointing at the van.

"Yeah," Tom agreed. "Tell you what. I’ll stay here. You guys go let them know what’s going on. See if one of them wants to stay here with me. Everyone else can head into town with Andy."

"Sounds great," Andy agreed. He and Sarah walked back to the van to the open sliding door.

The man was still trying to pull himself along with his one good arm, as if to follow the two. His jaw wasn’t snapping anymore, but his mouth was open and saliva pooled around his tongue and dripped out the sides of his mouth.

Tom looked up and saw Kate getting out of the van. Sarah opened the passenger door and jumped in. Andy turned around and yelled. "You good man?"

Tom waved and gave a thumbs up. Andy nodded and got into the van as Mary closed the sliding door. Kate stopped a couple of feet away from Tom and grimaced, looking down at the man on the street.

"Sarah said that guy tried to bite her," Kate said.

"Yeah," Tom replied. "Just started snapping like a rabid dog. Damndest thing. It looks like his skull is fractured. Must have done something to his cognitive abilities."

Tom was definitely the intellectual of the group. He didn’t know anything about the the human brain, but he always managed to sound smart and impress people.

"It’s amazing he’s still conscious," he added.