 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. A year ago she had been unattainable, a face to conjure with in erotic dreams, far beyond his ken. He touched buttons by the edge of the bed and the illumination quieted to a soft glow, wrapping her in a radiant halo. 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. I just don't know—" A paroxysm of sobbing shook his body. In spite of the sharp pain that raced through his system, in spite of the bright, warm, red stream that trickled down his face, he knelt by the window for several minutes. " Buildings were taller, men were healthier, most of the problems of humanity seemed licked, or nearly so. Life was fun, just a bowl of cherries, until...." The largest cotton crop ever was forecast and rumors from Mexico had it that no one had died from scorpion bite in several weeks. A month later the meat animals, the birds and the household pets began dropping as rapidly as the flies which had dropped earlier. Congress was called into special session, as were all of the national governments around the world. Within a year it was obvious to everyone that man was the only animal left on earth. The panic which had begun with the death of the animals was quieted somewhat by the fact that humans seemed immune to the pandemic. But the lakes full of dead fish caused a great stink and residents along the coasts began to move inland. Within six months, half of the world's population was gone. Less than a month ago no more than a few thousand people remained in New York. 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. Once a year the Bureau issued The Index, an exact accounting of Earth's four billion inhabitants. Only once, before the plague, had he seen the interior of this room. All children had to have a brain-wave recording made by the Bureau during the first month of their life. And again at the age of 10 each child returned to the Bureau for a recheck. It was for this latter recording that Charles had come to the Bureau some twenty-two years before and a friendly guard had let him peep briefly into the computer room.
 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