Kev had just stepped into the street to dispose of the plastic baggie and its contents when the shrill squeal of brakes sounded.
Kev, turning toward the noise, saw the red car speed through the red light on a direct path toward him. He froze.
His transformed brother heard the brakes, which produced a noise so painful it hurt his ears and caused him to wince and shake his head in a moment of costly delay.
The impostor, not given time to weigh consequences pro or con, simply reacted. With no time to pull Kev back to safety, he simply barreled into the smaller boy and pushed him out of the way.
The tires left rubber scorch marks on the asphalt as the careless driver, shocked, tried to avoid the teenager. The impact knocked the perhaps reluctantly heroic impostor into the asphalt.
In the panicked melee that followed, onlookers soon gathered. A man grabbed Kev by the shoulders and asked if he had been hurt. Some other people tended to the fallen impostor. Everyone seemed to ignore the sheepdog, which was making its way toward Kev when the emergency vehicles arrived.
The blaring sirens were hell on canine ears. Forced to save himself, Jared turned and fled in the opposite direction.
The word "head injury" got bandied about as emergency workers addressed the injuries of the impostor. A police officer questioned Kev, asking his name, age, and other details. "Is that your brother?" The officer asked.
Kev still felt frozen. "No," he started to say, knowing Jared was Shaggy. He looked around for the sheepdog and saw no sign of him. "I mean, yes, that's my brother."
He broke out of his paralysis and tried to make his way closer to the ambulance, but the burly officer restrained him. "I'll drive you to the hospital."
"Hospital!"
"Yea, it looks like your brother got a serious bump to the head," the officer said. "I'm sure he will be all right, though."
"What about my dog?" Kev began thinking clearly.
"I haven't seen a dog."
"He's big and shaggy," Kev said. "His name's Shaggy. He's a sheepdog and..."
The ambulance, sirens blaring again, pulled away.
"He'll find his way home, kid," the officer said. "We need to get you to the hospital."
Meanwhile, Jared wandered through an unfamiliar neighborhood, thankful the loud sirens sounded more distant after his hasty flight.