Before I begin the dream, let me first mention a separate one that I had well over a year ago, and perhaps even two. In that dream I was walking through barren fields with only dead grass and some dry dirt and rocks. The whole scene took place in Mexico. I was actually on a dirt path leading down a slight slope and I could see for quite some distance. Every 100-200 yards or so I could see a very tall crucifix. There were people held captive and at each crucifix an individual was being taken and placed into position on the cross to be burned. These were essentially locals that seemed innocent and helpless, from what I could figure. Two men passed me down the path. Each one held the arm of a man in the middle. This person was covered from head to toe in flames. The quality of the flame was such that it was smooth and well defined. It blew back lightly as the three men calmly walked down the path.
When I visited Chichen Itza that following Spring (of last year), I was struck by how similar much of the area looked. Being that this area of the Yucatan was heavily affected by Hurricane Ida the year before, most of the trees were leveled and it indeed looked rather barren.
Now to the dream which took place a couple of months afterwards.
I lived at a motel, small resort, apartment complex, or some place that had a pool and plenty of outdoor seating surrounding it. One could imagine something built in the 50's or 60's and not be too far off, but it was certainly not ran down. I found myself at the pool and having left some belongings on a couple of lounge chairs. After going to pick them up, I noticed a gang of thugs or drug dealers surrounding the area. They were busying themselves with going through the things and already claim some as theirs.
I went to get them back but one of them pulled a gun on me, so I backed away. Very quickly many other individuals were being bullied or roughed up. I remember that I had lived upstairs in a room or apartment and diagonally below me some of these thugs were living there now too. In fact, there was a small restaurant in the lower level that the gangsters were somehow involved with.
The cops were actually afraid to get involved with this gang. I believe because they were a Mexican cartel that had ties to the Russian Mafia. At any rate, I was confronted again by some young members of the gang. They were killing people and abusing others so I told them they needed to stop. The next thing I know is that one of them shot me in the stomach. This gun shot didn't much phase me. And emboldened by this fact, I yelled directly back at him "you can't kill me mother-f*cker!". A struggle ensues, wherein I am further shot, multiple times, and then finally one of his friends pulls out a "designer" chrome-plated gun and proceeds to shoot me in the head three times.
In a final episode of defiance, as I fall to my knees, rather like in some Robert Rodriguez film, I manage to pull out my middle finger and stick it in his face. Surprisingly I am still alive. I find myself walking across the tennis courts and then fainting as two individuals come over to my aid. At this point I was in the middle of a "natural high" feeling, which was probably the result of some form of shock or my body shutting down.
The overall impression I had with this dream was that Texas was being invaded by the Mexican drug cartels and no one could really do anything about it. The government, for whatever reason, was busy with something else or had its hands tied. Maybe it was already broke and struggling just to stay together. I do know that not long afterward activity worsened over the course of several months. After the dream, I remembered thinking of the movie Viva Max (1969), which I saw only as a kid, in which a Mexican general re-captures the Alamo, upsetting Texans, and the national guard was sent in. My dad was an extra in that film by the way!