"Desert Outpost" - 12/07/2006

”Desert Outpost”

12/07/2006

Dream #2

This one jumped around a lot. Me, T, JL and someone else were hanging out in an unfamiliar apartment complex. This girl, N, that I used to work with, a few years ago, lived in one of the apartments. Some time, throughout the dream, we’d gone to Burger King and, when we came back, my food was leaking through the bottom of my bag - a stringy mixture of mayonnaise, and grease dripping all over my legs. We got out of the car and were eating our food outside on the steps of N's apartment, when some little kid came up and was asking me about why my food was so soggy. I can’t remember what I told him though.

Later, some sort of drama happened and I think T ended up getting into a fight with someone in the neighborhood. It had been “hours” (perceived) since we ate at BK and he was feeling all good after winning a fight, so he said something like: “Let’s go get hot wings. I’m buying!” so we went and ate wings at some unfamiliar place. Standing in line, some of my ROTC buddies were there. I remember KA kept trying to get in front of me, in line, whenever I wasn’t paying attention. I’d grab him in a lock and shove him back to his spot, and we’d start play/fighting in line.

The dream shifted again, and it was daytime. A bunch of us (I think it was mostly the ROTC crew) were going on some “desert safari,” where we were supposed to venture to this mystical sort of place, way out in the desert. We each left at different times, because part of the trial was to see who would make it all the way there, without quitting. I had my camera with me and was walking alone through this scorching desert. T’s camera is on his phone, so he kept sending me pics that he was taking, while he was walking. After what seemed like forever, I came to a large mesa, with a sign in front of it. I knew there was some sort of civilization near this mesa, and I had been waiting to find it for a while. The sign, though, said that the “mystical city” we were looking for was still 2000 miles away, and something else about the sign evidenced that I’d only traveled 2000 miles in the first place. I was only halfway there, and about to pass out. The civilization that I heard this mesa was around was nothing but an outpost. I could see it way off in the distance and it was still quite a trip, so I continued walking.

At some point in time, I noticed that, instead of a poncho, I was wearing my bathroom robe (…which struck me as weird, but wasn’t enough to make me lucid). I noticed that there was supposed to be a lot of wildlife on this trip, and I hadn’t seen any. However, when I stepped into this small outpost of a town, there was wildlife running loose, all over it. The thing was: not only were these dangerous animals (alligators, bears, etc) but they were huge - gators as tall as 4 ft, while on all fours; bears which stood about as tall as full-grown men, again, on all fours.

Exhausted, I traveled to the center of this outpost and my surroundings were a mixture of calm and chaos. Some people were running for their lives as these monstrous beasts were chasing them down. Others were just standing around and taking pictures, like tourists in a theme park. I was about to start taking pictures of this weirdness, when I happened to turn around and see a guy running toward me with a massive bear - bigger than he was - closing in behind him. The bear caught the guy’s backpack in its mouth and picked him up off of the ground. He screamed in sheer, helpless terror, as the bear shook him from side to side, like a dog shaking a chew-toy, and then let go, the man flying through the air and smashing through a chain link fence a good 50 feet away.

I slowly lowered my camera and kept walking, thinking that now wasn’t a good time to stop and take pictures. Ultimately, I just wanted to get inside, where I could rest, peacefully, away from these dangerous animals. Strangely enough, there was a sandwich shop in one of the old buildings, which had a sign that said “Subs / Sodas” etc. on it. I remember getting some strange looks from the locals (probably because I was still wearing my bathrobe), before going inside the shop to find something to eat, but I don’t recall anything after this.