Salleh walked down the street carrying the bag of groceries he had bought for his mother. He moaned about the weight. How he wished that his house was nearer to the grocer’s shop. It was hard having to walk one kilometer from the shop to his house with the load.
He walked on to the end of the row of shops. Just as he was about to turn into the sideline that he normally took as a shortcut to his house, a car screeched to a stop right in front of him. Salleh felt a bit annoyed by the rude behavior of the driver. He stood there for a while glaring at the driver.
A burly man wearing a sort of vest emerged from the driver’s seat. He held a huge gun in his hands. Shocked. Salleh dropped his bag. Three more burly men emerged from the car. Each wore a vest and carried a gun.
Totally rooted with fear. Salleh watched the men in utter terror.
The men surrounded the speechless Salleh and physically carried him behind the car. They motioned to him to squat down. Salleh did as told. He trembled uncontrollably. Was this the end for him? Were the men going to kill him? What had he done to deserve this?
While a hundred thoughts raced through his terrified brain, he watched in disbelief as the men left him behind the car and started running towards the back lane behind the shops. Wide-eyed he watched. unable to stop trembling.
Then all hell broke loose.
Salleh heard some men shouting. Then the air was filled with the deafening sound of gunfire Salleh clasped his palms to his ears. Through his fearful eyes, he watched the men open fire with their guns. They were all shooting at something in the backline. For a minute or so the gunfire persisted. Then as suddenly as it started, the gunfire stopped and an unbearable silence took over.
The men ran into the backplane. Summoning his courage. Sailer; ran towards the backplane and peeped cautiously into it, What he saw he would never forget for the rest of his life.
First, he saw a heavy pail of acrid smoke. As the smoke cleared he could see many men surrounding. a car that was riddled with bullet-holes. Also, he could see three or Four men riddled with red bullet-holes lying inside the car. There was blood all over the men. They were obviously very dead.
Salleh then saw men in uniform approaching the car. Policemen! Salleh suddenly realized then that the men in funny vests must have been policemen wearing bullet-proof vests. These policemen have just ambushed some wanted criminals and had a shootout with them. The gory result of the ambush was frightening to watch. Salleh could hardly believe his eyes.
The scene also made him feel queasy. So Salleh sat down on the kerb, legs still trembling. It would be a long time before he got over his terrifying experience.