"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. " - Revelations 16:3,4

[Message found posted on the church doors of several deserted Villages during what became known as the "Red Volga" incident]

New Haven, Connecticut

[The Yale-New Haven Hospital has recently been expanded, with a new capacity of over 1,000 new beds to deal with the new influx of refugees from Europe. Even in the Pre-War days, it was ranked among the best hospitals in the world, in both its sophisticated equipment and its diagnosticians in disease. Eva Kellerman's room is on the top floor, in the world's first intensive healthcare unit, one of the innovations to come out of the war. The Doctors respectfully call her 'the warrior', having battled her illness for the better part of two decades. She lies in a completely sterilized room, monitored and given doses of medication by doctors around the clock. She is visibly pale, and her body weak and frail. This however, is contrasted by the energy and liveliness she exhibits during our conversation. I expect nothing less from a former Red Cross worker.]

We had our critics, officials and others who regarded us mostly as annoyances. After all, how was our goal realistic? They would say. Given the hatred in today's world, could we have made a difference? I keep telling them that wasn't our point, that was not the reason I joined the Red Cross in the first place.

To protect human life, just human life, without any discrimination in regard to religion, creed, race or class. It was that simple, yet it was revolutionary, perhaps one of the most noble ideas to come out of a battlefield. It was the one rule I based my entire career on, my life's work and I never looked back. If anyone had to question why we did it, it was no use convincing them otherwise, they would never understand.

We had our supporters of course, there were people who call us heroes, and I wish that were true. Not to sound too stereotypical, but the heroes were the ones we left behind in Europe, the ones who refused to leave even with the Chimera knocking at their door. I'm sure you heard the stories of Marcel Junod, the man who single handedly convinced the French government to process five thousand 'undesirables', Jews, Gypsies and others to the United States; to get them off the continent at a time when the boats were only taking people with money or those of the same race, religion or some other ridiculous reason. I know this is stupid, but the panic in the days of the Chimeran invasion showed the worst humanity had to offer. I've heard the stories, about the massacres, the panic and the rioting. But it always lightens my heart that for every psychopath or monster out there, there was one person like Marcel, trying their best to save as many as possible.

I think the saddest part was that Marcel never forgave himself for saving only five thousand, and in the end that killed him. I read the last reports from the International Red Cross committee, how they last saw him at the harbor in Bordeaux, directing refugees onto the ships even as the Chimera were breaking into the city.

[She pauses…. clasping her hands weakly, a look of pain and regret on her face.]

To my shame, I was not there, I couldn't have been there. My last assignment made sure of that. I tried to go, urge the doctors to give me a brief reprieve, one month, I'd be there and back once I did something, so I could at least look back at this and say that I didn't sit here twiddling my thumbs….in the end, the doctors won, as you can see.

Can you tell me a bit about your last assignment?

It was not a normal humanitarian aid assignment to be sure. For one thing, the Russian government had closed all official communication with the outside world. The Red Curtain was an effective wall. There was no way of smuggling information in and out simply because there was no traffic allowed pass the wall. Period.

We found out about the incident from our contacts in Armenia where we had our own delegates working on the latest humanitarian crisis in the area, involving the last Turkish-Armenian war. It was there where we saw the first Russian representatives, asking for aid and supplies. Apparently they came a long way, having sailed down the Caspian from Astrakhan.

The Russian Government was asking for aid?

Not the Tsarist government. They were too proud and stubborn in their self imposed isolation. No, I believe this was the local governor in charge of the Ukraine region.

He was a small nervous man, and I'll always remember how he spoke to us that night, sketchy details about a major catastrophe and how St. Petersburg was not sending them enough supplies to deal with the influx of patients and bodies.

Bodies?

By the time they had contacted us, the disaster had already engulfed the Kazan region, as well as Saratov and Volgograd, almost every major city along the Volga had been affected. It was already one of the worst humanitarian crisises of the century.

It took that long before the governor considered contacting you?

Since Russia's isolationist policy prevented them from reaching out to governments, the governor had no means of contacting the outside world. It was only when he heard of our latest mission in Armenia that he decided to contact the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross). We were a neutral organization, but we were still foreigners, so the governor was still nervous at having to meet with us at all.

And this was how you came to the 'Red Volga' incident

Eventually we did. I say that because the Russians were still paranoid about any foreigners. We had to undergo various screens of security checks, passport checks and body searches. Considering the amount of short notice we've been given and the lack of available supplies on hand, we were lucky to even get there two weeks later.

The first thing I noticed about the Volga was that it had a reddish brown color to it. Not the kind that you would mistake for mud. No, it was something completely different. It was almost like something from the plagues of Egypt, with the rivers running red with blood.

The most disturbing thing however, was the lack of activity or life on the river. This was one of Russia's lifeblood rivers, the ones they used for trade and food. All we saw along the way were deserted villages, each one completely empty of civilians. We assumed they had been evacuated, but still, it had an eerie feel to it. The whole carpet of dead fish and dolphins didn't help either.

The Whole River?

Every square mile of the river was covered with at least some form of carcass, whether it was fish, dolphins, or…god help us, people, Those who were unlucky enough to get caught in the 'slick', as we called it. Many of the bodies had washed up on the beaches, and were being carried into the churches. It was not all orderly however, there was mass panic. This one woman kept screaming that Armageddon was approaching, while some were pinning pamphlets to the doors of houses. Others just had enough, packed all their valuables into a cart and made way for the highway, we saw a lot of discarded luggage, clothes and valuables scattered about the countryside.

Despite all the panic, we started by doing what we came to do, setting up a main hospital to deal with the inflow of sick patients, all who had come into contact with the water. It was then that we became worried. The damn Russians! Choosing convenience over common sense, I know they wanted us to get there quickly, but couldn't they think of a better way than just sending us down the same river that was causing all these deaths?

So most of your staff became infected as well?

We did not have any symptoms initially, but we thought we were becoming infected, something with the water? But even then we never touched the water during the boat ride. So we supposed it was something in the air. Most of us began wearing face masks to protect us, but in hindsight, that was a useless measure.

Can you describe these symptoms?

The most common symptom in most of the patients was violent coughing, often coughing up phlegm with signs of blood in it. They all seemed very malnourished as well. We thought it was a virus so we gave them what we could, antibiotics to kill whatever was in them. In the end, I don't think we made much of a difference. We asked the Russian authorities how long the river was like this for, and the man replied to me, with a straight face, that they had been like this for several months. Months! And only now did they seek our help. I didn't want to think it at that time, but it may have already been too late for those people.

We stayed for a few weeks, setting up our infirmaries to deal with even more patients that were coming in from the cities. By then however, we were out of supplies, and the Russians realized that we could do nothing more to help them, so they sent us away. Can you believe that? If we had a few more weeks, perhaps we might have had more time to call in some doctors, or even set up more beds! But the Tsarist government had heard of our activities there, and within days, we were sent a notice to leave Russian territory immediately, or we would be evicted with 'extreme prejudice'. As if we hadn't enough already.

I found that the worst part. It took the Russian government less than a week to respond to our presence here, but they sat on their fat comfy chairs in the St. Petersburg doing nothing for these poor suffering peasants, their own people for the last few months. It was...there is no other word for it...it was sickening.

As we packed up, one of our staff members managed to sneak in a photograph (Russian authorities had confiscated all cameras at the checkpoints), hoping that it would provide some answers if he showed it to his friends at the University of Princeton. He also took a sample of the water in a jar, hoping it would yield something through scientific analysis.

[She shows me the Photograph]

It was only after we reached Armenia that the first of us starting becoming sick with the very same symptoms. It was also at that point that I didn't start to feel very well….

[She pauses]

Would I have done the same thing again? Knowing the outcome? Absolutely. We Red Cross Workers dedicated our lives to preserving and aiding human life. If I could take any comfort from our work in the Volga, it was that we at least made the last moments of a few more people as comfortable as possible. I just wish….I just wish we knew what we were dealing with at that time.

[The Famous "Red Volga" Water Sample taken by the late staff member was found to have contained large amounts of Radon, approximately 1,000 times above the normal quantities found in natural environments. Eva Kellerman died five days after this interview from advanced stage lung cancer.]