A/N: This one's really short people, sorry. Again I have no beta so the mistakes are all that I own. I make no money from this at all.
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Collectable Chapter Eight
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Neal sucks in a deep breath as quietly as he can manage. It hitches with his mounting fear and stress and he tries again for a smooth relaxing breath. He manages it just barely and then starts to walk forward, slowly, deliberately, well aware there could be trip wires anywhere and he has no way of seeing them.
He makes his way towards the master bedroom and the sound. He slowly opens the door, relieved when nothing happens. Maybe the upstairs isn't booby trapped after all?
He looks at the window and cannot see anything attached to it, in fact it's open… wide open, but Neal is very aware there is nothing but a very long drop out with nothing between the ground and the window to help ease the way down. He is contemplating escaping through the window when he hears the banging coming from the large closet next to the bed and he can't help but make his way over to it.
Having heard Neal entered the room, whomever was in the closet let out a muffled "help me!"
It was not a women's voice which set Neal on high alert. Still he walked over to the closet and opened it, revealing a large black trunk. The trunk shook. Someone was inside of it.
Reaching in slowly he nervously opened the trunk, preparing himself for something to jump out and attack him. He wasn't prepared for a half, naked man to fall out, his foot attached to the box by a bear trap, his ankle all bloody an swollen around the sharp metal teeth.
"Get, get me out of here." He moaned.
"Who are you?" Neal demanded, taking a step back.
"Arkin." The man said making Neal's blood run cold.
Arkin… what were the odds? It wasn't exactly the most common name… Neal froze looking down at the man.
"Please help me." Arkin begged reaching out to Neal.
Based on the man's appearance he could not be the one that had done all this. The state of his clothing and the way his ankle looked, it had been trapped in that bear trap for some time.
Neal was aware time was short, he looked at the open window mere feet away and then at the desperate man. Making a snap decision he went over to the man and using all his strength, despite his injured wrist and shoulder, he manages to get the bear trap, with the man's help, off his ankle. It takes both of them to get the jaws to release.
The man jumps out of the box and looks as if he is about to say something, when his eyes go wide and he stares at something just over Neal's shoulder. He takes a moment to snap out of it before he runs towards the open window and jumps out.
Neal looks over his shoulder just in time to have a rag put over his mouth. He holds his breath and spins them around trying to shake his attacker off. The only thing he succeeds in doing is putting his opponent between himself and the egress.
He manages to get free by elbowing a soft stomach and he runs towards the bedroom door hoping to find another out.
He feels his attacker chasing him and he runs down the stair without looking where he is going. He steps on something slid under the loose carpeting and goes flying down the steps hitting his head hard on the wall and then all he sees is blackness.