But thinking about "why" didn't answer the question itself, Charles thought. He looked around him. He was sitting on a bench in Central Park, alone except for a few stray corpses. But the park was fairly free of bodies.
"You've got about ten minutes warning," he said to himself. "I guess that most people wanted to die inside of something—inside of anything. Not out in the unprotected open."
The silence was like a weight hanging around his neck. Not an insect noise, not the chirp of a bird, not the sound of a car nor the scream of a plane. Not even a breeze to whisper among the leaves, he thought. Civilization equals life equals noise. Silence equals....
Why. His mind kept returning to the question. Of all the people on earth, me. The last. Why me?
Average, that's what he was. Height: 5'11". Weight: 165. Age: 32. Status: Married, once upon a time.
The Norm, with no significant departures, all down the line. Church member, but not a good one. Could that be it? Could the most normal be the most perfect? Had he led the best of all possible lives? Was that it? Had God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, spared his life, saved him, singled him out because he was most nearly a saint, most nearly Christ-like, most nearly....
Lies—His mind snapped back to reality. He half smiled. Saint? Christ? The Second Coming?
He was no saint.
Charles sighed.
What about—?