Title: In Admiration - Part 33
Fandom: Lost
Characters: Jack Shephard, Boone Carlyle
Prompt: #34 Not Enough
Author's Notes: Written for the LiveJournal community slash100 (underscore between "slash" and "100" – for some reason FFN deletes it)
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Another day back at the hatch, and Boone is watching Locke crouched down and clearing the dirt from the window. That's pretty much all they've been doing these passed few weeks - clearing away the dirt, making the ladder that goes down the level of the hatch that's been unearthed, and then John's latest idea, the trebuchet.
"You want my opinion?" Boone asked, not really caring whether Locke wanted to hear it or not. "There's no way to open this hatch."
As Locke stood, Boone noticed his eyes never left the window, like all the answers were written on the glass. "Boone, you gotta have some faith. All we've gotta do is break the glass and then we're in. The trebuchet delivers half a ton of force."
Boone wasn't quite sure what a trebuchet would be used for normally or why Locke would know of them and how to build them. He had thought trebuchet was the name of a font couples would sometimes order for their wedding invitations and place cards. "Why do they call it a trebuchet? It looks like a catapult." The thing was huge - at least twice Boone's height and made of bamboo.
"It's called a trebuchet, Boone, because it's a trebuchet."
They pushed on the end with the weight on the bottom, Boone holding it up as Locke used another piece of bamboo to hold it in place. The weight was a large rock that had just been at the hatch, one day, and Boone hadn't the slightest idea how John had gotten it there. "I don't get you, man. One minute you're quoting Nietzsche, now all of a sudden you're an engineer." Boone looked at it, smirking. "I don't think I can spell trebuchet."
"There's a T on the end," John said, sounding like he wasn't really paying attention. Locke had a tendency to get really focused and not realize what was going on. Boone sometimes wondered if John thought he was an idiot because he seemed to take literally all the things Boone said sarcastically.
Boone's gaze met Locke's and he really wished he knew what was going on in the man's head. "I'm serious, John we've been coming out here every day for two weeks, and you never talk about yourself. Everybody's got a story."
"My story would bore you."
Boone sighed, walking over to his bag and breaking out his water bottle. He felt like he was going to get straight answers from the hatch before getting anything out of Locke. He seemed to be the only one of them who didn't miss home or at least didn't think about what going back would be like.
"I think we can try now," John called over to him, and Boone went back to the trebuchet. It had been constructed so twisting a bamboo lever would wrap a rope tautly, pulling the end with the piece of wreckage high in the air until the slack ran out, and then hopefully the force of the sharp metal slamming into the glass window would break the hatch open.
In theory, anyway, Boone thought. They hadn't tested the trebuchet, so for all he knew, it would fall apart when they started pulling on the lever, or the rope would break before the metal got high enough in the air to do much. They started to twist the bamboo lever, starting out simply with just the two of them, but as the piece of wreckage got higher, so did the resistance, and they were straining to turn it further.
Locke counted down from three at which point he released the rope and Boone let go of the lever, sending the hooked piece of metal swinging down directly onto the window of the hatch. Boone backed off a little as the metal smashed into tiny pieces, the momentum riding through the bamboo structure of the trebuchet enough to shatter the whole thing, causing it to tilt and fall apart on itself before crashing to the ground. Boone watched in stunned silence as John went over to the window. He could see from his distance that the trebuchet was not enough force to break the glass. It hadn't even scratched the surface.
"This was supposed to work!" John said, clearly frustrated with the situation. He yelled it again, stamping his foot on the hatch as he did, which drew Boone's attention to Locke's knee.
"John!" Boone yelled, stepping onto the hatch and looking back down. "Your leg, man."
There's a piece of bamboo sticking out of the side of Locke's right leg, just below his knee. From the amount of blood staining his pants already, it must be in pretty deep, but John didn't really seem to notice or be in any pain. John reached down and pulled it out slowly, Boone feeling freaked out about the fact that he hadn't noticed the shard that was at least six inches long in his leg. Locke looked how Boone felt, it seemed, as he looked at the shard covered in blood and down to his own leg.
"You okay?" Boone asked, watching John to make sure he wasn't going to pass out or anything.
"Yeah," he replied as if it had only been a splinter. "I'm fine."
"Maybe we should go back," Boone tried, but he knew John wouldn't want to. Going back meant he'd need medical help from Jack, and then he would have to explain to Jack how he got hurt. Boone knew that Locke would just lie to him, but he also knew that Jack was already suspicious as to what they were doing out here and wouldn't believe anything Locke might tell him.
"You can go back, Boone." John was poking around on his leg at the site of the wound. "I have some supplies in my bag to clean this up with. You don't need to worry about me."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure." Locke looked up at him, smiling. "It is merely a flesh wound."