There is a tendency for my dreams to feature some element of peril and/or inevitability. Initially I envisioned this as a response to that "violent behavior in dreams" thread as an aside to ask if there might be some implications to being the target of dream violence rather than the giver, but figured the topic was distinct enough and post long enough to warrant a separate topic.
The way I dream is difficult to describe in text since it's very spatial and I experience dream environments as cohesive yet partially abstract places where I know of the position and size of features relative to each other but often it's like vision- the part you're focusing on is crystal clear but everything around that is just a hazy colour. People in my dreams are often just notions- not actually specific, fully realized persons, let alone real-life stand-ins; they may exist because my brain at that point in the sequence assumes that "there are (people with X attributes) of (affiliation Y) in (direction Z) relative to me." I usually do not actually receive much violence in my dreams, as being dream-caught/killed/tortured etc causes me to skip the timeline of the dream back by a few events and then play it forward a bit differently, or in very sudden instances, I will usually wake up for a minute or two and then fall asleep again.
The dream has states in addition to its environment. Examples of such states are "I am in this transitory place so that I may reach another," "I am being pursued," "I must discover what is happening here," etc. Often in these states, there is some nonspecific antagonistic force that is hunting for me or chasing me. This element is usually not present to begin with, but develops once the setting has a decent bit of definition. The force is usually taken to be private military soldiers, members of some organization masquerading as law enforcement, or even cultists. The cult flavour depends on the environment of the dream, ranging anywhere from necromancial and mythologically brooding to hyper-wealthy cliques of cannibals.
One dream that I remember fairly well (I usually cannot remember much unless I recall a dream while dreaming) goes like this:
>driving down a path. it's about twice as wide as the car and paved with gravel. two ruts show where other tires have pushed down the sparse grass growing on the middle and sides. the car is probably a black SUV and I am probably driving. there seem like there are 2-4 other people in the car, and I know them, and we are on good terms, and have gone through something together. we are trying to get out of a place, but it doesn't seem too urgent.
>there are trees on both sides. they are fairly tall, but not exceptionally so, and sport mild green coloration. they are probably deciduous. the sky seems grey and overcast, but also I can tell it is going to be dark soon.
>I pull off to the left, where there is some wide shoulder on the road. the sky is yellowish-grey and I can feel a breeze (the car sort of just goes away and I'm standing). the trees clear up here on this side, and the elevation before me slopes down, and I can see much of the sky, which is a gentle orange and purple. I go a bit downhill and counterclockwise, where theoretically I should just be seeing the ground below the road from before, yet inexplicably the hill keeps going down and out and there is a large residential area of what seem like multiple developments of rather nice, contemporary, 3-4 bedroom detached single family houses. they seem to have a lot of exterior lighting, as I can see many gentle, but bright white pricks of light as I look down the hill at the houses.
>I communicate to the party that for some purpose we must get across the houses, and in a hushed and worried manner, they tell me that this is a bad idea. we are aware that there are what seem to be officers or guards around the area, and they are looking for us. there is a chain link fence with an un-gated opening for vehicles before the developments, and we know that the officers are behind us and to our sides on our side of the fence. in a half-squat, I scamper past the fence up to the first house. it has two levels, and in front is a large square concrete pillar that connects to the front of the upper floor somehow. by this time, the sky is dark, yet there is enough white-ish light around to see fairly well on the house-side of the fence. behind me it is all dark.
>a spotlight is put on me from behind, and I hear indistinct yells. hurriedly, I try to tear my way up the concrete pillar, yet I vividly understand that behind me there is a guard standing with a pistol held in both hands. halfway up the pillar, I hear a gunshot, and my physical body jerks a bit as my dream self is shot in the back of the head. the dream ends, and I go back to sleep, thinking about the space the dream took place in.
I rarely feel actual dread in my dreams, and rather enjoy most of these sequences, but find it strange that in my dreams, someone is usually out to get me. Anyone experience something similar?