Nova Scotia RCMP are on the hunt for two men who allegedly kept a 16-year-old boy in chains and sexually assaulted him.

Police said they responded to a call at an Upper Chelsea residence in the province’s Lunenburg County on Monday, where they found the boy who had fled a nearby home.

The teen was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He told police he was kept against his will for two weeks.

Alice Arnold told CTV Atlantic the boy initially sought help at her home and startled her by frantically knocking on her back door.

“There was a young man standing on my back porch saying; ‘I have to get in. I want to come in, I want to come in,” she said.

Arnold said chains were wrapped around the teen’s wrists and ankles. He was barefoot and wearing only a jacket and a hat -- nothing else, she said.

Arnold did not let the boy inside, but grabbed her phone and called 911.

“He said: ‘Please don’t call the police. They’ll make it worse for me,’” she said.

The teen then disappeared.

“Our whole encounter may have been 30 seconds, maybe a minute,” Arnold said, adding that police later told her the boy went to another neighbour’s house.

“He seemed like he was terrified, actually. And that seemed quite real,” she said.

Investigators say they will lay charges of forcible confinement and sexual assault against David James Leblanc, 47, and Wayne Alan Cunningham, 31. Police are asking the public to help locate them and are asking anyone with information to contact them.

“I think the nature of the charges speak for themselves,” Sgt. Alain Leblanc told CTV Atlantic. “They are serious charges.”

Asked why the RCMP took nearly two full days to alert the public about the alleged crime and issue photos of the suspects, Leblanc said the case is a “complex” one and investigators wanted to make sure all of their information was correct before releasing it.

One of the suspects, David James Leblanc, was set to appear in court in November on charges of sexual assault, as well as making, possessing and distributing child pornography. Those charges stemmed from a previous arrest.

Neighbours said the house where the boy was allegedly confined had been up for sale, but was taken off the market. Two people moved in a couple of months ago, they said.

With reports from CTV’s Todd Battis and CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell