There was only fifteen seconds left in regulation. More than enough time for Sergei Zubkov. The game was 0-1 against these blasted Whalers, and if the Wings didn't score very soon, their run for the Stanley Cup would come to a end. The puck was squarely in the Detroit zone, so Vachon was still the goal. Sergei's body, taxed from the rigorous movement across the ice, felt as if it was going to collapse into the frigid air. The booming crowd, cheering for what seemed like the inevitable Whalers victory, served as hark reminder of the stakes the Russian faced. In, all, it was an average day for Sergei.
Suddenly, a Whalers offensiveman fired a massive slapshot at the Detroit goalie, but it veered off course and hit one of the poles. The puck, with a distinctive ping, ricocheted off the metal and crashed into the glass surrounding the rink. Slowly, the puck fell towards the ice, landing squarely in front of Sergei's feet. Almost instantly, the crowd's deafening cacophony silenced as time itself started to slow down. About ten seconds were left on the clock; ten seconds to save the game.
The Whalers, horror on their faces, charged at the Russian, hoping to slam him on the ice before he drives the ice towards the Connecticut team's goal. However, Sergei dashed in a red blur, leaving the white-clad players to crash into the glass with no target in between them. As Sergei started to drive towards the ice, he could hear the announcer's excitement over the ordeal.
"...And Zubkov, Detroit's hero from the east, is driving the puck easterly towards the more eastern team's goal. This game might go east into overtime if the puck goes eastwards towards the goal!"
No one was between him and Garrett, the Whalers goalie. Five seconds were left on the clock, and each heartbeat left even less and less time on the clock. The Russian brought his stick back for an even more powerful slapshot than one attempted ten seconds ago. He looked out towards the goalie, seeing the horrified crowd behind the glass. All horrified, except for two women standing with absolutely blank looks. Identical in appearance, they wore matching dresses as well; the only difference being one clad in white and the other red. Seregi stopped his slapshot, frozen in a fear he couldn't comprehend. The clock counted down to zero, and the Russian fell down to his knees.
A few seconds later, the desolate landscape of an abandoned Hartford replaced the hockey rink Zubkov was in.
"It was only a dream," the now ex-hockey player said with a disturbed tone, in a vain attempt to reassure himself.
These dreams haunted Sergei for the past few days as he was trapped in this foreign city, although few were quite as vivid for him as this particular dream was. No matter where he was or what he was doing, the world would just seem to vanish and he'd be thrusted into an alternative reality. The most recent one, to Sergei's confusion, was him going to some sort of American school, with an expressionless teacher greeting him as he walked into class. These dreams always had two things in common; expressionless women in red and white, and an urge to go eastwards.
There's nothing in the world that Sergei would want more than to go east, in fact. That is, Sergei would love to be able to go home, back to Leningrad. America had nothing for him ever since everyone on the Red Wings was dead except for him. Along with the Whalers he was trapped with, and basically everyone in the entire city of Hartford. They were all dead, except for him. Zubkov had no idea why he was able to survive, and he wasn't exactly sure if he was lucky to do so.
However, going back to Leningrad is an impossibility at this point. If this plague was able to decimate all of Hartford, and the plague was spread across all of America and even the world, there's no reason to not assume the entire world was destroyed by the very same disease. An entire ocean separated the lost Russian from his homeland, and its not like he could fly a plane without most likely killing himself at the landing. Stealing a boat at port might be more feasible, but he'd need to take enough food to survive weeks, if not months, at sea. Plus, he'd still need to cross all of Europe before winter set in; he didn't want to be trapped against General Winter like the fascists his father fought against.
Sighing, Sergei got up to his feet. The fact that he hasn't saw a living human in days was probably eating away at his sanity. These crazed visions were most likely just his mind trying to add some sort of human interaction within his life, to help him cope with the utter loneliness he felt while wandering this city. Maybe he'll even find some sort of purpose in America by finding another survivor; maybe he or she has some goals he could help them achieve or something.
Of course, though, who would want to be with me? I'll just a dirty, good-for-nothing commie to them, who's only accomplishment in life is being able to move a puck on ice. They'd consider me a liability at best.
Suddenly, Sergei felt his stomach growl. All of this dreaming and moping was cutting into time finding food to keep himself alive. Thankfully, Zubkov already found himself right next to a small convenience store. The good thing about being stuck in a city was that there is a lot of stores to loot for food. The bad news, however, is that most of these stores were already looted by other people, before they died. Still, the ex-hockey player never distinctly remembered checking this store out, so it wouldn't hurt to investigate.
To his dull surprise, however, his initial suspicion was confirmed. The entire place was for the most part already picked over. All the non-perishable food was picked clean, leaving only mounds of decaying fruits and spoiled milk behind. With no electricity powering this building's refrigeration for days, the remaining food was most likely rancid beyond belief. He'd probably be more sick trying to eat this crap rather than starving. Sighing, he began to walk out of the store, when a sudden noise stopped him.
Sergei didn't know what exactly he heard, but it sounded like a human greeting him. Instantly turning around, he didn't see any human, but a can of tuna that he previously did not notice was rolling towards him on the ground, and the door for an entrance on the other side of the corner audibly closed. Picking up the canned tuna, Sergei dashed towards the other door, hoping to investigate whether someone actually gave him the tuna or if his mind was going. Whether or not he finds the hypothetical person, Sergei also planned to raid other stores for food.