 What did Charles probably realize at the end?
There should be an epitaph for every man, big or little, but a really grand and special one for Loner Charlie. New York lay quietly below him. It was the hour of indecision when day has not quite made up its mind to leave and night has not yet attacked in force. A month later the meat animals, the birds and the household pets began dropping as rapidly as the flies which had dropped earlier. Within a year it was obvious to everyone that man was the only animal left on earth. Within six months, half of the world's population was gone. And now.... "I've got to find out," Charles told himself. Before the plague the Bureau of Vital Statistics had been one of man's crowning achievements.
 He was the last person because of his last name
 He could have stopped the plague  There were more people alive that he hadn't found  There was an alien on the Empire State Building  He was the last person because of his last name