Uncontrollable

"Vanessa," I croaked, "we need to get out of here."

My fatigued body complained as I pushed myself up to standing position and looked around. The world around me was bare and cold, the howling wind blowing up red sand everywhere. There wasn't so much as a plant in sight.

Vanessa had landed to my right. She was still sprawled out on the ground. Sweat coated her face, causing sand to stick to it. Her blonde hair was scattered over the sand. Her eyes were very open.

Slowly, she pushed herself up so that she was standing.

The familiar, translucent figures were flying toward us and circling the two of us. 

We'll kill you.

What're you doing here?

Get out of our land.

The whispers continued, filling my head and sending me to a state of paranoia.

"We need to go!" I exclaimed, grabbing Vanessa's hand tugging her along with me as I sprinted. We needed to find cover or else they would truly kill us. I didn't think I had the energy in me to stop them again; I didn't even know how I did it the first time.

"Where are we?" she asked as she gained her own balance and began running herself.

"In the spirit's land," I answered, speeding up as the ghost-like creatures flew after us, trying to catch up. Next to me, Vanessa's eyes widened and she began sprinting faster than I'd ever seen her move, dust and sand flying up behind her as she ran. What caused that?

I picked up my pace to try to catch up to her as she dominated the ground, surging forward. I could slightly hear her heavy breathing, but nothing else. The wall of spirits continued to sail forward toward us.

With a hint of curiosity I made the mistake of turning my head and studying them as I ran. There were hundreds of the spirits, all flying toward us, their beady black eyes boring into mine. The low whisper that was resonating throughout the land haunted me, chilling my bones and sending a shiver down my spine.

They had me in a trance; I couldn't look away or even force myself to run faster. They were going to catch me. I just knew it. 

The spirits continued soaring after us. They were much faster than I was, so after not long they were looming over me and flying circles around my head like vultures. I was able to rip my eyes away from them in time to see Vanessa still bolting forward, far outrunning me and the spirits.

With my new found freedom from the apparent trance that the spirits had been putting me under, I tried sprinting away again, but they were already hovering over me. With the wind that seemed to be created as they appeared, it was hard to get anywhere, and the sand spiraling upward and clogging my vision didn't help.

I refused to avert my gaze towards the spirits — if I had a shot at getting out of this, I couldn't be put in a trance.

Far ahead of me, Vanessa turned around.

"Ryder," she screamed, "do you need help?"

"I'm fine," I hollered back, hoping that she could hear me over the wind. I didn't need her to get caught by the spirits too. If one of us were to die, I refused to let it be her. 

I couldn't see Vanessa's face well through the sand and distance between us but I assumed she was pondering whether or not I was telling the truth.

Whatever she did, I hoped desperately that she wouldn't come back to save me. One of us needed to make it out of here alive and get Grey in the Trapper. One of us needed to get back to the Base and figure out everything that was happening with my mother. And in the current situation, it only made sense that Vanessa would be the one to make it out alive.