Our Violent Ends

Celia organizes the Communists from a rooftop as Scarlet forces approach. Benedikt hides among the Scarlets and Nationalists, who seem to have come to an agreement with the foreigners; the Nationalists won’t risk upsetting the French powers. He runs through the French Concession, tricking a group of Scarlets by claiming he’s running a message for Lord Cai.

At Shu’s residence, he sneaks in through the General’s office and finds a note that shows that the Nationalists have intercepted Celia’s message; they know Roma and Juliette plan to escape on Da Nao’s boat. If they catch Roma, they will kill him, and Juliette will be detained. Just then, footsteps approach the office, and Benedikt hides in a storage room. Benedikt, trapped, hears Shu confirm the Montagov execution order, despite Scarlet protests that it is a dishonorable move. He wonders why Shu would do this except to isolate Marshall from those he loves.

Roma, Juliette, and Alisa journey across the city, forcing themselves to remain calm whenever they cross paths with protesters.

Celia watches as the Communist leaders craft their demands, preferring death to defeat. She joins the march of protesters and blends into the large mass of people.

From his hiding spot, Benedikt hears Marshall arrive and tell the Nationalists in Shu’s office that the cars from Lord Cai have arrived. Marshall is sent into the filing room and almost gives Benedikt away in his surprise. He tells Benedikt to wait until he comes back for him. Benedikt is suspicious—it looks like Marshall could have left the Nationalists at any time—until Marshall tells him he was attempting to help from the inside. Benedikt tells him Shu lied—he didn’t delay the execution order. Benedikt urges Marshall to come with him, but Marshall won’t. He’s more useful within the Kuomintang. He believes he can steer his father and save the Montagovs, but Benedikt knows Marshall can’t.

They argue. Marshall is offended that Benedikt doesn’t believe in his abilities, and Benedikt blurts out that he loves him. Marshall teases him about bad timing and then kisses him. Marshall loves Benedikt, too, and he agrees to leave with him. They leave the office to find General Shu waiting. Marshall calls his bluff: Shu promised to help the Montagovs, and here is his chance. Shu tries to argue his way out of it, but Marshall won’t have it and hits him across the temple with a pistol. Marshall and Benedikt quickly hunt for Shu’s stamp so they can travel safely through the city.

Noon approaches, but Roma, Juliette, and Alisa don’t see Benedikt and Marshall at the crowded waterfront. Foreign warships are docked, a clear threat of colonialist power. Juliette tries to stall Da Nao. He asks if the Montagovs are forcing her to help them, but she says no; Roma is her husband. Da Nao insists Juliette give up her weapons before she comes on board, and she throws her knives into the river. Instantly, a Scarlet steps out from behind him, killing Da Nao and shooting into the air—a signal. Juliette screams for Roma and Alisa to run and fights her way toward them until the sight of a gun at Roma’s head causes her to freeze. The Scarlets drag Juliette and the Montagovs in opposite directions, Roma shouting that he loves Juliette, over and over, until they’re out of sight.

Celia and the Communists march through the city until they come across the heavily armed Nationalist army at a barricade in the road. The Communists continue forward, and it almost seems as though the procession will remain peaceful when a Scarlet, planted to do exactly this, fires at the Nationalists, giving them the excuse to open fire on the Communists.

Juliette’s Scarlet captors drag her through the city, ignoring her questions about what is happening. They approach the rear of the Nationalist barricade, and Juliette begs the Scarlets to call off the order just as the Nationalists massacre the Communists, shooting even as the protesters run away. Juliette collapses in horror and spots movement: A flood of insects heading toward the Nationalists, beginning the infection. Juliette lets the Scarlet guards drag her away.

Benedikt and Marshall cross the city by rooftop, trailing after Roma and Alisa, whom they saw being dragged away. They reach their destination, but a Nationalist guard standing outside won’t let them in. Marshall approaches the Scarlets with his forged note bearing General Shu’s stamp when Roma signals that the Nationalist guard is not a soldier at all. He is a plant, stalling for Dimitri and a group of workers, who emerge from the building and kill the Scarlets. Marshall, Roma, and Alisa are forced to surrender to Dimitri, who announces they will be publicly executed that night. Benedikt watches, already planning how to save them.

In Juliette’s bedroom, her mother tries to scold her, but Juliette asks if she knows that their allies just committed a massacre. Lady Cai is unconcerned; the Cais want to protect themselves first. When her parents demand that Juliette explain herself, she confesses that she loves Roma. She desperately tries to convince them to stop the violence, but they won’t listen. Her father gives an ultimatum: Obey and resume her role as heir of the Scarlet Gang or go into exile.

Lady Cai is aghast until Lord Cai says that he knows what Juliette did to Tyler—that was why he had been keeping her out of gang business. Juliette confesses that she killed Tyler to save Roma. Lord Cai was not going to punish her for this, but he will punish her for defecting to the White Flowers. Juliette asks Lady Cai why the gangs hate each other—why they fight when nobody remembers the original reason—and Lady Cai answers that the hate has become self-sustaining. To lose it would be to lose their identity. As her mother leaves her, Juliette screams that she has no regrets.

Juliette considers escaping through her balcony, but she has nowhere to go and nobody to go with now that Roma is likely already dead. The weapons have been removed from her room except for a grenade at the bottom of her closet. If she detonates it, it will kill the crowd of prominent Nationalists that gather downstairs. She is about to do this when Benedikt arrives on her balcony. Roma is alive, and Benedikt needs her help. Regarding her plan, he says it is stupid to die blowing up Nationalists when they will build their ranks again. She can’t stop a civil war. He proposes they blow up the monsters instead. Juliette agrees but wants to change clothes first. She discovers a pill—the vaccine—and a note from Lourens advising her to use it wisely. It was slipped to her by the Scarlet who dragged her from the Nationalist protest—an undercover White Flower. She takes the note, the pill, and a lighter and leaves with Benedikt.

Benedikt and Juliette hurry to the safe house to free Rosalind and get her information. They need to know how the monsters transform so they can enact Benedikt’s plan: They will force the monsters to emerge at Dimitri’s planned public execution, causing enough chaos to rescue Marshall, Roma, and Alisa. Rosalind, worse for the wear after being left alone for two days, asks what happened and then asks after Celia—surprising Juliette by using Celia’s chosen name. Rosalind reports how she recruited the hosts, snaring them for Dimitri to infect with the five large bugs. Then she remembers that the bugs were stored in ethanol. That’s the key to the transformation. Juliette lets Rosalind go, each unsure if they’ll ever see the other again.

Celia is trapped in the crowd of bodies from the massacre until Rosalind comes to pull her free. Rosalind tries to keep her sister thinking of happier things as she struggles to walk. Rosalind vows to save her.

The streets are beginning to fill up again as Benedikt and Juliette hurry through. At a fire station, they steal a car, hoses, and gallons of gasoline, which has the same effect as ethanol. Juliette plans to offer herself in trade for Alisa and Marshall; she is a more useful symbol for Dimitri’s cause. Benedikt will take Alisa and Marshall away before activating the monsters, and Juliette will give Roma Lourens’s vaccine. They arrive at a small crowd surrounding Roma, who is tied to a pole. Juliette sees Moreau—the monsters are here. Juliette raises her hands, showing she has no weapons, as Benedikt furiously sets up the gasoline and hoses. She approaches and kisses Roma, slipping him the vaccine between their mouths. Dimitri agrees to her trade, and Marshall and Alisa leave, quickly running into Benedikt.

Dimitri promises the gathered crowd vaccines, indicating toward bags at his feet, just before the gasoline pours down and the monsters transform. Dimitri orders the monsters to release their insects, but Juliette and Roma are already free and immune. As chaos reigns, Juliette realizes she can’t just walk away from this. Roma attacks Dimitri as Juliette scatters the bags of vaccines and throws down her lighter, igniting an explosion that rocks the city.

April 1928

A year later, Alisa thinks of the marriage certificate she forged for Juliette and Roma after she overheard their vows. Once she sent it to the press, the blood feud began to die down—if the heirs didn’t care about the feud, why should anyone else? Roma and Juliette had been given a gravestone together, though no bodies were found; the explosion was evidently too hot, though the monsters and Dimitri were confirmed dead. Marshall and Benedikt left Shanghai for Moscow a month later. Alisa wants answers and stayed in Shanghai to become a Communist spy. Lord Montagov is still missing, and the White Flowers and Scarlet Gang are gone. Lord Cai is a member of the ruling Kuomintang government.

Roma and Juliette have become legends, but hatred and unrest still brew in Shanghai. Celia, Alisa’s superior among the Communists, hurries Alisa away from the canal. They could be spotted at any time. Alisa looks back and sees a boy and girl kissing on a fishing boat, and she looks away. They look familiar but she doesn’t chase them, preferring to cling to hope.