Malcolm Bright

Neal has never been very good at thinking with his head when his heart is involved.

He skids into the open and it's James on the ground, the stranger Neal's own age punching him in the ribs, face.

"Hey!" Neal shouts, and charges, without goal or plan beyond 'make the guy stop.'

Which means he ends up on the ground, tussling with the stranger, trying to keep the upper hand with someone who's more muscular than him and more used to fighting. Neal sees stars as the stranger clocks him, hitting the nearly-gone bruise on his face where Rhonda elbowed him in the asylum basement.