Had a weird dream last night.
I was a citizen of some kind of fictional country, which is powerful in both economic and military. Suddenly out of nowhere, I was in the middle of a weaker but deviant country, which is about to be invaded by my country. The situation is in the middle of a huge building complex, with government facilities, shopping malls, and big parking lot, overlooking a dense pine forest to the south. It was dark at night, probably in spring, eerily silent. We were gathered inside this building because we were stranded somehow. All I know is that I was returning from a daily work, but ended up here.
This dream is very revealing, what it is like to be a war victim. I was panicking, along with people inside the building, many were citizens of the poor country. We heard the news that our building is about to be surrounded by the invading force. I was awaken by the first shelling. There were faint screams and people running around, trying to find a hiding place inside the abandoned shops. I was trying to hide inside the clothes rack, nah too flimsy... then I found furniture store... not gonna hide me from the troops. Many people also do the same thing, they are hopelessly out of ideas. Running north exit of the building is the last option, the government troops standing there might fire on us. Then the fire fight started while I am hiding behind a huge cupboard. I started to wonder about the fate of my brother, was he drafted by my homeland's forces? Was he killed in the first wave? Will we meet here and escape together from this perilous situation? Then another shelling rounds rained upon us.
It was inevitable for the poor sods. I saw Cadillac Gage-like APCs rolling down in massive numbers from the shop windows... they are flanking the defenders at full speed, not firing any rounds, they just went past the building. I hope I could make them realise that I am here, one of their fellow citizens. But then they started shooting at us... war criminal happens like this. The defending troops retreated inside the building, and we were about to be evacuated, but chaos occurred and there were firefights inside the building, the invaders started shooting back too. I was forced to crawl through an abandoned clothing shop. The defending forces were desperate, and when I reached the parking building, I can see that their hopelessly outnumbered motorpool is finally launched (probably to delay the inevitable), consisting of a handful number of similarly shaped APCs and IFVs. I won't bother looking at the battles anyway, as I run deeper and deeper into enemy's territory along with the fleeing enemy citizens.
Finally I reached the other end of the city, an outskirt village, located just near the mountain slope. There I met my brother, he was organizing an evacuation for non-combatants and citizens of non-conflicting party. We were given special permission to cross the border by the invaded country... but we were wary about how the border guards going to react about us. I rode along with him, just two of us, a bit relieved but somehow still worries about the border guards and possible militants harassing along the journey. So, it went as predicted, they threw a roadblock and started pissing on every passing convoys (they don't shoot, just block the road and forces us to go off-road. We were forced to unnecessarily take a detour into river banks and so on. But we finally made it! I was in some kind of refugee camp, and about to leave for home soon with my brother.
This is surreal. I never imagined that I am going to experience such a situation. Usually dreams sets at a place you are very familiar with, a bit like deja vu. But this setting is completely new and I never had such a theme either.