Help....

[Freakazoid]

Well shit, I figured something like this would come around to bite me, here's what's up. Any help would be appreciated, I'm debating what to do next. Well my beater car (still waiting for the right RL deal... :/) has got like a 140k miles on it, still (was) running strong. Anyways I was putting off the oil change and it was about 4000 since the last oil change. I haven't had any problems with it losing or burning oil so I didn't check it (stupid thing, yea I know).
But anyways last night, was driving along and car started making noises that progressively got worse. Pulled over to the side of the road, as soon as I stopped moving, oil light went on (and so did the battery light oddly enough). Car was running, just not running well. I get out of the car, first thing I check is the dip stick. Look at that, no oil (literally not a bit). Shit... So I call up a friend and he buys me some oil and we put 2 quarts in (normally takes 4 when changing, but I wasn't sure if the engine was COMPLETELY bone dry or what, so I left it at 2 for the night, because the dipstick registered completely full) after letting the engine cool int he 40 degree weather for about 40 minutes. I start the engine back up, not wanting to rev it, and you can hear what I think is the sound of the piston hitting something/rubbing/doing something (complete guess, I should have recorded the sound actually). I didn't rev it or do anything at that point, when it was still making the sound after letting the engine run for a couple minutes, I went home for the time being. I'm pretty sure the car is still driveable at this point. But should I? I'm not sure the car would be worth having engine work on it, and I don't even know where to begin to go in the area for engine work as well. (it's a 97 mazda 626 2.5L, was pretty well taken care of, but the thing has miles on it).

Any thoughts? First and foremost, safe to drive or should I be towing it at this point? Basically I'm wondering if driving it with the new oil in it now will at least make it driveable for under 50-100 miles or will it start to cause more irrepairable damages?
Thanks anyone/everyone.

[SatredL]

I would tow it, just a ?? After you changed the oil did you put the drain plug back in?

[Horvat26]

Don't gamble your life dude. Tow that thing if you have the slightese reservation.

[Baztard]

I agree...If its your only car now dont take the chance...Tow It