A new day dawns and it has become Monday and the dragon queen in Hugo's cave is very sad and also scared. She is sad that the male has not come back to the cave as he promised to do. Somehow the dragon queen has stopped hoping that he will come back and it saddens her to think about it.

She is afraid because she instinctively feels that something bad has happened to the male and that something bad will happen to her. She also feels that a lot of strange things are constantly happening in her body and this makes her even more worried. It almost feels like when the eggs start moving from the abdomen down to the anus but she knows she hasn't mated for a few days. The anus itself also feels very strange. It's like it's wider and rounder than it has been before and the dragon queen doesn't understand why that is.

She is also significantly fatter than she has ever been. Sometimes she can feel how it moves in her abdomen and she wonders what is happening. The movements in her abdomen have increased since she first felt them.

There is hardly any food left in the cave and some of what is there has become unfit to eat. The dragon queen can see the bellies of some cows bubbling wildly and it looks like they are boiling. She remembers what happened to the male when he ate a cow with bubbles in its belly. There are some horses that are perfectly fine and the dragon queen gets an urgent craving for one and fetches it and quickly starts eating the meat in it.

The last eggs that hatched contained many baby dragons that were so sick they died the day they hatched and the dragon queen misses them all. It was horrible to see them die. The male had felt the same.
The dragon queen misses her male very much. The male was so much more than just someone to mate and have baby dragons with. Although the dragon queen was sometimes bothered by his vomiting and licking of the mucus that came from the anus during egg laying, she misses him. After all, they were a very strong couple. It is so painfully quiet in the cave now that the male is not there.

The dragon queen would have liked to fly around looking for the male. But since she is a dragon queen, she must stay in the cave. Even if she wants to, she can't leave.

The dragon queen knows nothing of all that has happened since the male left her. If she had known what had happened, she might have been scared. She would also have felt very lonely if she knew that she is the very last living dragon queen and that her lovely male is dead and burned and ground into flour in an old dump that no one will visit. But she knows nothing about all that.

Hasse and Madelene wake up and they get up and eat breakfast. They are both very quiet compared to yesterday. Madelene doesn't really want Hasse to go back into the cave even though she knows it has to be blown up to kill the dragon queen. She has suggested that Hasse can throw down poisoned meat through the opening where he fell down but the question is whether the dragon queen would not have become suspicious of Hasse in that case. Hasse, in turn, thinks that he wants to say a proper goodbye to the dragon queen like he did with the male.

Hasse stands and thinks about what clothes he should wear. He remembers that it was quite hot in the cave when he was there last time, so he chooses a T-Shirt and shorts. He thinks about whether he should wear the gym shoes or the sandals, but in the end it's the sandals. Hasse chooses not to wear any socks.

Madelene comes out of the kitchen and gives Hasse a long hug. She looks at him for a long time.

- Promise me you'll be careful. You don't have to be a hero.
- There will be no problems. I can feel it.
- I hope you're right. I don't want you to get hurt.
- She has always trusted me. I'm a dragon whisperer.
- You've said it a few times now. Well my dragon slayer. Don't come home with any dragon souvenirs. Then I get mad.

Hasse can't help teasing a little with Madelene and he smiles slyly.

- The dragon queen's skull might have been a good fit to hang on one wall in the living room. Some bring home heads from deer and other things.

Madelene looks angry and is about to say something but she soon realizes that Hasse is just teasing her

- Joking aside. I'm not going to take home any souvenirs from the dragon queen
- Hasse, I love you.
- And I love you Madelene.

Hasse kisses Madelene on the cheek and goes down the stairs while Madelene remains watching him from the open front door.

Hasse goes down and stands outside the apartment building where he lives and waits to be picked up by someone from the defense. There seems to have been some delay even though it's weekdays again. After several extra minutes of waiting, a greenish-grey car with the defense logo on the outside comes driving and Hasse understands that it is a task leader from the defense. He jumps into the car and they drive off. Madelene stands and looks out the living room window. She thinks it's nice not to see a lot of dragons flying around, but just people hanging out with each other.

Hasse greets the task leader lightly and they look at each other.

- The military has just given us the bombs. That's why I'm a little late.
- It does not matter. We have time to do this. The dragon queen will not run away from there even if she knows what awaits.
- Well. How does it feel? Are you nervous?
- Not directly. The only thing I feel is that I am deceiving her. She trusts me.
- Do not think like that. You know she must die. My best tip is don't look her in the eyes when you're in the cave, just put the bombs there.
- Of course. I just mean I saw her and the male hatch and now I have to kill her. It was hard to see the male die.
- You know that it is for human survival that we do this. You do realize that otherwise the dragons can exterminate us humans through their fire and incessant breeding?
- I realized the same thing and that is one of the reasons why I decided to help. I also know that this cave is a little hard to get into compared to some of the caves where the other dragon queens lived. The dragon queen can't leave the cave so putting poisoned meat outside the cave wouldn't have helped.
- We are aware that the cave is difficult to attack and we are glad that you want to help.
- In a way, I think it's sad that the dragons have to die. They are unique in some way.
- They are absolutely special but also dangerous for humans. If the dragons hadn't multiplied like rabbits and sprayed fire on all the houses in Åby and Mölndal but also Liseberg, Ullevi and all other places, we might have let some of them be.
- Well, the task leader from Åby said even before everything started that they should be killed, so it's not entirely certain. Admittedly he hadn't even looked for them but still.
- The events here in Gothenburg must not happen again.
- No. Absolutely not.
- Just look at how they completely destroyed Åby. There are no villas there that are not destroyed by fire.
- I know. I was watching the news a few weeks ago. By the way, did you know that the cave is called the Hugo Cave?
- No, I had no idea about that. Why is it called that?
- There was a person called Hugo and someone called Bertil who used the cave in the 1970s to smuggle alcohol but then dragons came there and Hugo and Bertil killed those dragons but they missed the three eggs that I took home and which then hatched.
- Was there a dragon queen who lived there then too?
- No one knows for sure, but they multiplied anyway.
- Just like now.

Hasse sits quietly and thinks, but then he comes up with something. They might not have to kill the dragon queen. Hasse looks at the task leader and clears his throat carefully.

- Actually, I don't think we need to do this.
- How do you mean?
- Her male is dead so she will not continue to reproduce. There are no other dragons left.
- Unfortunately, you are completely wrong. She can certainly continue to reproduce
- But the male is dead. How then can she reproduce?
- I don't want to discuss the reason how.
- But I was the one who found the eggs and saw her and the male hatch. I was the one who let them loose when they got too big to live in my villa. I would like to know how she can continue to breed without the male's help.
- Actually, this is classified, but since you help and know the dragon queen best of all of us, I will tell you, but you must under no circumstances pass on what I say.
- OK no problem.
- We have already done several tests on the blood of the dragon queens who were killed and we have found an extra DNA in their blood that allows them to reproduce asexually. When this DNA is activated, they begin to reproduce again but give birth instead but do not have as many baby dragons.
- But dragons lay eggs.
- Normally yes. But when this DNA is activated, they start giving birth instead. In the worst case, it has already been activated in this dragon queen and therefore she too must die. She is the oldest of them all and has lived the longest. This new DNA is like an evolution, you could say.
- How many baby dragons do you think she gives birth to?
- It's hard to say for sure, but I would guess around 30 - 40 baby dragons. Possibly up to 50, but of course how many can be born depends on many different factors.
- How often will she give birth then?
- If our calculations are correct, she will give birth every day.
- But that can't be right, can it?
- Unfortunately, our tests show that it is entirely possible. As soon as she has given birth, new baby dragons will constantly be produced at a furious rate.
- But will all dragon babies survive if she gives birth so often?
- Some of them will surely die, but since she will give birth so often, it doesn't matter much. However, it will soon be full of dragons again and each young dragon will be able to give birth on its own when they are adults.
- Oh my God. This means that if she gives birth to 40 baby dragons, they will in turn give birth to a total of 1600 baby dragons if they also give birth to 40 baby dragons each.
- Exactly.
- But then everyone born must be female.
- Unfortunately not. Even the males that are born will also be able to reproduce once they become adults.
- It should be impossible.
- I know, but unfortunately it is not. Dragon cubs become adults in five days
- Yes, that could probably be true.

Hasse sits quietly. This he had no idea about but he understands why the dragon queen must be killed. Admittedly, there are not as many baby dragons that will be born compared to how many eggs Hasse knows that several dragon queens have laid. But since the dragon queen will now reproduce continuously and the baby dragons too once they are grown up, it is a very big problem

Finally the car arrives at the old forest and the driver parks near the road and Hasse and he go out into the warm sun. It is already full of people from the military and defense waiting for them.

Robert gives the bombs to Hasse. He explains to Hasse how they work. Now it's up to him to destroy the cave enough that the fire bombs can be dropped on the dragon queen. Hasse puts the bombs in a large plastic bag. Even if the dragon queen doesn't know what a bomb is, she would certainly be suspicious if she saw them. The less suspicious she becomes, the better.

The task leader who drove Hasse tells Robert that Hasse now knows the DNA string and it doesn't really matter to him. In a way, he thinks it's good that Hasse also knows about this. That makes Hasse more prepared that the dragon queen might start giving birth while he is in the cave.

Hasse walks through the old forest and soon approaches the cave where the dragon queen is. He goes in where only a few weeks ago he got out. Hasse sings softly so that the dragon queen will hear that it is he who is coming. During the time in the cave, the dragon queen lays down on her stomach because it feels more comfortable, but she can constantly feel how it moves wilder and wilder in her abdomen and it is not her intestine. The dragon queen burps loudly a few times but it doesn't feel any difference.

Hasse enters the cave and he can see that there is no longer as much food in the cave as there was the last time he and Madelene were here. When Hasse gets further into the cave, he can see that the dragon queen is lying on her stomach a good distance from where the nest is. There are no eggs in any nest and there are not that many baby dragons in the cave. Hasse can see that the dragon queen is very fat. He's never seen her this fat before.

​The dragon queen does not look straight ahead when Hasse enters the cave, but more to the side. Hasse clears his throat so that she will hear that he is there. The dragon queen turns her big head and looks at Hasse and she looks almost a little surprised that he is here in the cave again. The last time he was here, he had someone with him, but that doesn't matter much to the dragon queen. Hasse walks up to the dragon queen and this time he walks closer than he has at any time before since he set them free. Hasse is so close that he can feel the dragon queen's warm breath on his face but she doesn't get aggressive even though he is very close to her. Hasse nods at the dragon queen.

- How are you? Do you miss the male?

The dragon queen doesn't understand what Hasse is saying but suddenly he feels the same very strong feeling of loneliness that the male sent him a few days ago. Hasse can't sense any confusion from her but it's not that strange. The male was poisoned and did not understand what happened to him.

Hasse can't help himself from the intense feeling of loneliness that the dragon queen is sending and his eyes begin to water. Tears begin to slowly run down his cheeks and onto the ground.
- I understand exactly how you feel. It's a terrible feeling.

The dragon queen sees Hasse crying and she dives down with her big head and rubs it against Hasse's head. The dragon queen's large head is both soft and hard at the same time, and Hasse can feel the rock-hard scales against his face. The dragon queen could have hurt his face if she had pressed her face harder against Hasses but she is very careful when she rubs her head against Hasses.