this is mostly a response to matts dream journaling...thought it might be interesting to try...i have nightmares often and this one felt like something out of a movie...dont think there is anything to decipher...just a weird dream that made me thankful i dont wake up to an empty bed. :)

My family and I were on vacation in Mexico for New Years and are getting ready to drive back across the border. There is the usual long stretch of stopped cars and suddenly we hear on the radio that there is an emergency situation occurring just south of us. I look back through the rear window to see dark figures flying down on the farthest row of the cars. I hear people starting to scream and get out of their cars only to be picked up by these creatures who seem to be part dragon, part vampire, and part human. Those who got out to run have their bodies torn apart and tossed back down on the cars behind us. I start to panic and pull down all the shades on our car. Its enough to cover almost all the windows except the front. We leave a small portion open so that we can continue to drive. Through the small open square and the other cracks between the shades, I see helicopters arriving and attempting to shoot down the creatures. Although some are killed or wounded, most are simply annoyed and use their long tails to knock the helicopters out of the sky. A small moving crowd forms from the dead bodies...their eyes have turned black and they are stumbling toward our car. At this point, most of the other people who are in the other cars around us are frantically trying to navigate around the fallen aircraft and abandoned or smashed vehicles. My dad gets us to the side of the road and drives along the emergency lane as quickly as he can. There is a detour up ahead and we are directed to take it. Nathan complains that he is hungry and needs to use the bathroom so we stop at a lone country store miles from everything going on. The shop owner is nowhere to be found so Nathan and my Dad go inside and grab food and notice that there is a sign reading "Leave as much as you take...". So my Mom decides we need to repay the owner and gets the idea to walk a little down the road to where we saw a grove of fruit trees. We are out of money for some reason so the only way we can pay him is by digging up a fruit tree and taking it back to the store. We jog most of the way there and then stop to catch our breath under the shady stand that serves as the entrance. My mom sees a shovel and walks out to grab it when I spot on of the creatures wearing a black cowboy hat slouched against the stand. His arms are crossed and he is smiling at us as she starts to dig, not noticing him at all. His lizard tongue sticks out and I can see his fangs. I'm still not certain what exactly he is as far as monsters go. He is pale with fangs like a vampire and built like a human turned reptile from the waist down. He knows that I see him and she does not. I start to run towards her as she is pulling the young tree out by its last root. I scream and then she sees him stretching and getting ready to spread his wings. She drops the shovel and we both start running as fast as we can back to the store down the street. The creature could have caught us by now but he seems to be taking his time. He glides smoothly after us at a steady pace, eventually creating a large shadow over us. We reach the store just in time as he swoops down to snatch one of us. We scramble into the building only to find my Dad and brother missing.