I think some things to consider would be what is going on in your life right now; are you dealing with anything particularily stressful right now? Some people say dreams are the result of unresolved problems that you have while awake.

Freud would say dreams are wishfullfillments; this is the best way I can explain/rationalize it.

You are having dreams about your friends and family dying, and someone trying to kill you. I'm just now studying this, so bear with me:

If that is a wishfullfilment, then really it translates to wishing the conflicts you are having withyour family members would die (but the dream would just show you the family members. So it's not that you want them to die, the idea is you want the strife they are giving you to end. Someone trying to kill you is the other method of protecting yourself-either they go, or you escape.

This all seems crazy, but I found it to be so true.

For example, I have day dreamed about my brother dying and me either not caring or I end up crying. Were taught that is "worrying" about someone. But, for a moment I wondered, what if Freud was right, what if I did "wish" it? How could I possibly "want" my brother to die?
Truth was, I had been upset with him at the time, and the daydream was an emotional response for the fact that I cared for someone who at the time was hurting me. And therefore I daydreamed about a solution, an aggressive one (another one of Freud's theories)-him dying.

I donno, hope that made sense.