The Expat

By Herman van Zyl

In the middle of Africa lies an undisturbed ancient secret, darker and more mysterious than time, discovered by four long-time friends from South Africa.
Working as expatriates in Africa, ex-military and engineers, they soon realize that they are not the first to have set foot on the ancient pathways as signs of former histories are evident, the most disturbing being found documents and experiments, uncovering long lost secrecies of horrors. Bound by an ancient curse, Jason Michaels has to deceitfully convince his friends to go on a global quest whilst trying to keep up with his family back home. Guided by a mysterious butler, Israel, who helps them through the journey. For the four brothers to survive the challenges faced, they will have to endure and rely on each other’s strengths and trust.
With personal conflicts and sentimental memories of past and present, they have to face their own demons and learn how to differentiate between the dimensional multiple riffs of reality on their quests, and the awakening of the supernatural hunting them while they try to retrieve lost artifacts to stop the apocalypse.
A story of brotherhood, friendship, family and sacrifice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Herman van Zyl
• Release date: Oct 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463012086

Herman van Zyl

Welcome to my journey,Born and raised in the military, I pride myself by first being a husband and father, brother and friend. Having gained over 20 Years’ experience in both business and mining, engineering, construction management on international projects, I have had the privilege to have worked in remote areas as an expat and gain a great understanding of African cultures.Although I am not a stranger to writing, my first attempt to write a book was 22 years ago, being young at the time it was just an attempt, and until now never tried again.But with the accomplishments within my completion of my Masters and Doctorate, I have had the opportunity to learn and showcase my writing skills through thesis, dissertations and long essays, which has helped me to become quainter in the manner of writing.I have also been privileged to contribute to international distance learning by educating people, as a tutor, lecturer, coach and mentor, and have published QnA session on the industry publication called “The Hard Hat Professionals” about remote working.

Book preview

The Expat

Herman van Zyl © 2019

Chapter 1

The nightmares continue

The haunting and bloodthirsty nightmare scared the hell out of Jason Michaels.

Repetitively waking him at five thirty every morning, shuddering in a cold, feverish sweat, he could not make sense of the ominous terror that taunted him, nor explain the uncontrollable hold it had on him, not to anyone, especially not his wife Lee.

Submerged in the surreal nightmare, he was a voyeur hypnotically staring into a mirror. The face that stared back at him was not his but that of the monstrous scar-faced Heidenreich, a Nazi captain who ruled the odd symphony of senseless chaos in an undisclosed secret cave. In this nightmare, something always went wrong, terribly wrong and Jason had to relive the pugnacious dread without resisting.

The deafening alarm of mayhem that filled the dark, ominous cavernous bunker had shattered the tranquil serenity of his dream-world.

He could feel Heidenreich’s immense power as he stared into the mirror while flashes of the commanding emergency red lights, the red shrill sirens, and earth tremors heightened the desperation of his commands to soldiers who’d shouted fearfully to confirm his orders with a hesitant nod.

They had to escape the underground death-trap through the aging dead space, a rain of molded stone cast and heavy rocks. In a storm of dust, the bunker roof fell apart followed by the screams of men with broken bones and the silence of crushed bodies.

Panic ruled as soldiers, lab technicians, and white-jacketed scientists scurried to save whatever files they could grab before vacating the would-be tomb, while clasping onto their formulas and results that had to be studied back in the comfort of Germany.

Schnell, schnell! Heidenreich shouted as he stood at ease in his prominent black and red officer’s uniform, bellowing instructions for all to follow.

Driven by fear and anxiety choking in their throats, everyone tried to make sense of the situation in the presence of the claustrophobia that would eventually swallow them with the shrinking bunker, only enough space to hold two busses, but disappearing fast. Screams continued throughout the air with buried bodies with raising hands squealing like pigs in a slaughter house.

Jason felt how the monstrous Heidenreich cynically smiled, while a soldier tried desperately to pull his comrade from the pile of debris that had broken both his legs. The madman reiterated the command, Schnell, with excitement. His eyes turned pitch black with a demonic stare, enthralled in the suffering and commotion, and then he pulled out his gun. 

Jason quickly embodied one of the other soldiers and watched a bullet tear through the trapped victim’s throat, splattering blood all over his rescuer. He looked at Heidenreich, saw his face change from instructive to terrified.

Jason looked up at the entrance of the bunker; it was closing fast, as the giant reinforced-steel trapdoor gave way to the pressure of a six-ton rock-fall, echoed and crashed onto the debris-strewn floor. 

Then the wailing sound of something unreal broke the silence. It echoed through the dusty air, and with the flickering lights dying out, the source of the sound was not easy to track, but the pitch black would surround Jason soon and consume any remaining chance of escape. 

The brash clap of a colossal stealth-winged bat caught Jason’s attention. He looked right then suddenly left, puffed a painful breath, and screamed as talons ripped him into the air. He hung helpless in agony as his insides crushed, his air squeezed out his throat, followed by suffocating vomit.

His left arm ripped off, hearing the meat tearing through his shirt and watched in freight as the light flickered to prevent seeing the final death strike, but just in time to view the slash, his decapitated head bouncing to a stop against the wooden table leg. Trapped in the space of the head, Jason watched from the floor in clear sight of the room, bound to just watch the final scenes play out like a horror film in slow motion.

There was nothing in the air, no sword, no gunshot, no poison gas, just the mist of silent dust in the empty space.

He observed as Heidenreich licked the blood off his dried lips, smelling the iron in the air, the whiff of raw flesh filled in the smoke from the electricity with the still warm tones of exploding skin splattered against the wall behind the now dead young soldier, and watched with alert as remaining soldiers vibrated in demonic levitation, their last breath of life sucked out, choking on their own gut and flesh, becoming grey lifeless prunes.

A second of stillness past, except for the spineless captain, the rest died off in gurgled agony, trailed in with a disembodied, clicking predator sound growing closer, there were no footstep, just clicking, like a bat trying to find its prey in the dark, and when it focused on the captain, it stopped, silence.

Queued by the eerie sounds, Jason leaped into the captain’s body, he could feel the warm urine running down his thigh, the chills rise in Heidenreich, down his neck forcing his hair to erect with discomfort, detecting the cold breath of something creeping closer, next to him. The creature clicking in a slower soft tone now, almost there, almost on top of him, toying and inspecting the living being with ravenous curiosity, petrified the captain sensed the chilled breath with the foul smell of decay, followed through to his left shoulder and the last thing he heard before he screamed himself to death was the unnerving voice signing off with "you will do just fine."

Dammit! Jason shouted as he jumped up from the bed hitting his elbow against the wall with a hard whack, trying to catch up with his breath, while wiping the sweat off his face.

Not again! I used to have better control over this, ‘hate that end.

Feeling a bit disappointed in not being able to wake himself before that tedious end, he stumbled forward to inspect himself in the mirror rubbing his still intact neck, scratching his shoulder good enough for a confirmed burn, just in case it felt cold or fell off, moved his head sideways, then up and down. Now that he knew he was sanely alive, he might as well get up anyway, and gently placed his feet in his slippers on the floor.

Just a dream, just a dream you idiot, calm down. Still, smelled the iron in the air, and immediately lit a cigarette.

Movements start early in the Congo, maybe it’s the constant humidity dancing in trance in oncoming waves of dry heat, or the rain you can still smell in the dirt after a downpour, the rooster alarming off at five A.M. or the fact that the sun is just plain ignorant and impatiently starts rising its head over the next horizon with the relaxed orange glow of a shadowed fire in this stodgy skyline.

Marked by hot, uncomfortably dry hot and just for kicks, some wet weather conditions, both sides and more humid closer to the equator, patched deserts still visible on an unfinished earth, this remote place was home for now for this expat as forests and jungles are bordered by an array of banded semi-arid terrains which reminds you that this is Africa, it’s precious, confusing, private and as tough as nails, and that’s just the people.

It is all the same for Jason though, a reminder that it’s another day closer to be going home, to his wife Lee and his son Josh in South Africa.

It’s autumn now and since it was impossible to get a job back home in South Africa due to affirmative action this and greedy pretentious politics that, it was easier to work somewhere else to make sure his wife and son can continue to live in harmony without him.

After 1994, South Africa, with an average of two and half to three thousand resumes floating endlessly in the market and if lucky get one interview every six months, the three school friends, Jason, Jakes and Stoney decided to join the United Nations were they met the last quartet Frans, and with a few years of military experience behind their backs, they were used to the remote living conditions.

Fortunately for him in the world of today and his gang of three misfit friends, they had years of experience as professionals in mining, construction and engineering, certain skills which came in handy in desolated locations within Africa.

He knew the gang had to make sacrifices, even if it meant leaving their loved ones behind to create a possible future and be together some day. Call it an investment, development, growth, more money, less money, survival, work, whatever you want…it’s a shitty feeling either way.

Memories motivated him and served as a reminder why he was doing this, why being so far away from home was an unwanted necessity.

Still trying to wake up, and shake the nightmare from his head, Jason stood in his gown and slops, closed his eyes, sucked in a drag of smoke to fill the chambers of his mouth and turned his head slowly, to listen from which side the wind was blowing, it seemed a west wind was brewing, which meant they might get some rain soon, been a while.

He opened his eyes slowly, taking a moment to mentally reflect and prepare for the day, then gradually exhaled the smoke with relief and took another sip of his first morning cup of coffee.

Back home, Jason never believed Lee when she said honestly, try it my love…coffee without sugar is not that bad and I bet you will get used to it in three days

His usual reply as always was oh yeah… it’s a bet – our usual, twenty bucks?

Keeping her narrowed blue eyes on him, she would simply fake a smile, shake his hand in accord and end the deal with a kiss which said, I’m a confident woman, and I don’t lose; while she turned around, still rapt on him with a sensual grin on her face to pour the milk into the cups.

He missed her, the smell of perfume as it escaped her neck, when he lovingly stroked the sides of her breasts as she bent down to kiss him after a fresh morning shower. 

Lee was not the most pleasant person after waking up in the morning, her brain needed ten minutes to defrost and reset, and he could usually tell when she would start smiling and her face spark up, ignition on. It was cute and annoying, but he loved her with the passion of ten thousand suns.

Coffee sure tastes good this morning as he watched the heavy smoke clouds escape, all it needs is another cigarette, two out of three so far, the simplicity in the wake of his dawn routine, one more to go, let’s see if the coffee can last that long. 

Nah who am I kidding. Better start the kettle for the second cup anyways, hold the sugar of course. It’s been six months without sugar, and as he pours the milk into the black cup, he religiously reads the white labelled writing Home is where I am with you, smiles and admits Lee has never been wrong, but someday he will get one in.

It is Sunday, been two weeks, so time to pick up the gang from Suzi’s lounge, a local tavern made for all those expats who wants to experience a little bit of home away from home. The pick-up station for those travelling back from the airport to their temporary homes, as work goes it was six weeks on, two weeks off on a fly in fly out schedule.

Jason skipped his opportunity this time around, explaining to Lee that he would want to save the leave to take a whole month off to spend time with the family back home. She accepted behind her broken smile, but they both knew how difficult it becomes after a while. Becoming an expatriate far away from home was one of those kind of decisions which you don’t want to make but have to, as a wife needs her husband and a boy needs his father, and Josh was a hand full when he wanted to be.

At knee high, Josh was still allowed to sleep between Jason and Lee, held his dad’s arm playing with the tattoo, folded over his chest; Dad, what are the wolves for? Without hesitation Jason did not even try to explain the reasoning behind a good and bad wolf to him, instead it was more appropriate to say;

Well my boy, these wolves are soldier wolves, they are there to protect anybody in our family, they growl because they are always ready to fight any baddies. And when any baddies come close, they would just pop off out of my arm and bite them. Grrrrrr He tickled the ribs of Josh while his son hugged and kept it close to pull the blanket arm over him, knowing he is safe with dad and his feisty pair of growling sidekick wolves.

Jason still smiled as he remembered showing Josh how to use his replica M14 airsoft rifle he got for his forth birthday. Yes at four years old with his blond Mohican haircut in the same style as his hero – Soap from his game Modern Warfare, he accepted the distraction from the concentrating little face which turned the gun as it released a ricocheted pellet round in a back bounce off the wall behind the target, which flew past Jason’s left ear, with the sound of a spring set loose.

But more importantly, his little soldier got it right with great pride with the cans three meters away, as he assumed the rank of sniper, because he is four and does not have to understand the world right now, because he is Soap and because he can.

Lee did well alone though, having to play the role of mom and dad in the house, but she had her days when it became too much. Who could blame her under the circumstances?

He wondered what Lee and Josh were up to right now?

Thanks to advanced technology, emailing up and down came in handy and the What’s app he was still being educated with. He would catch up with Lee and Josh every so often as he could, but some days were difficult with work and if dared to not communicate back in a certain expected timeframe, Lee’s paranoia would kick in. 

She was a beautiful angelic creature with a tricky, frightening, paranoid, psychotic streak in her, each argument won with because I can which more went into the direction of because I am a woman, what else did you expect dumbass.

For the first few years he snickered off her paranoia as a bad joke, until he took some time to appreciate and understand what she was actually going through when she sensed the anxiety building up inside her, it was her own caged phobia, not as terrifying as spiders though but also unsuspectingly lonely and real to her.

He admired her for that, the same way she respected all his little faults, which apparently was double of hers.

Lee was the first woman in his life he did not just enjoy loving, wasn’t just his best friend or soulmate, but she was also part of his own intimate fantasies.

She had a way of making him feel he is the only man in the world that still did it for her, and he adored her for that. Her provocative way of letting him know she was frisky was enticing and mysterious, her eyes could speak for her in the way she would stare, biting her lower lip in desire,