My Fahrenheit 451 Ending Rewrite

Part 1

He ran like his life depended on it, and it did. Even though Montag had finally made it out of bounds of the city and was now trending on unfamiliar lands of the countryside; he felt like the hound's snapping jaws were on his heels and if he stopped he would be torn apart in an instant. That or the police would somehow appear behind a tree and catch him in flashing lights of red and blue.
Montag's previous decisions hadn't led him feeling any better either, even if it had prevented murder.

The memory was still fresh; standing amongst the ashes of his burning house, the fire chief hurling insults at him. His thumb subconsciously flicking on the flamethrower.
As they both gave one another glances, Beatty only grinning, daring Montag to set him ablaze. He hadn't been able to do it. Despite the near torment the captain had caused him the past hour or week even, he wasn't able to kill him.
Dropping the flamethrower at his feet he could only run away then.

Montag didn't know why but eventually he slowly came to a stop. Looking around through the darkness the moon served as his only light, shining down on the grass and what looked like a river with streams of silver a bit ahead of him. He still frantically checked behind him, his heartbeat fast in his ears, but he heard nor saw anything else being illuminated by the moon.
He let himself have this moment to gather his thoughts and catch his breath. As much as he hoped the chase was over he wasn't able to hide the fear that it wasn't. It was like a heavy and uncomfortable blanket closing in on him, wrapping around and constricting him until his life was drained as if he were a mouse caught by a snake.
Gasping for breath now he forced himself to try and calm. Never in his life had he truly felt so afraid. He knew what would happen if he was caught. He had no idea what lay beyond the countryside either, but it felt better than going back and being killed.

Montag lifted his feet again to continue the journey; unaware of how he stumbled through the land in uncertainty, only focused on the shadows. Fingers curled into a fist, tense.
To his relief he did make it at the water's edge; his boots sinking into the shore, water washing them of the ash.
He watched it, captivated by the slowly flowing water, he could almost even smell its freshness. Suddenly he became aware of how dry his mouth seemed and kneeled down reaching out for the cool, clean water.
The soot that covered his face was washed away in dirty droplets and Montag smoothed his hair. For the first time in a while he felt much more relaxed to be cleansing himself of the ashes of his now past life.

Unfortunately for Montag, the solace did not last for much longer. As he looked up from washing his face he saw in the dark a new silhouette outlined in the moon under the trees. It was almost certainly a man, tall and standing alongside the other side of the river, and Montag was horrified.

At first they both stared at each other in silence. His mind was racing with who this could be or what they were doing here. The other man was the first to make a move, he stepped out of the forest's cover and the light was able to reveal his face.
Montag went pale as if he'd seen a ghost. Maybe it could have been, considering he had no idea of what happened after he ran away.
But now, standing before him in shadows casted by the moon, the fire chief had returned to finish what they started.

Montag knew this must mean his imminent death so without another thought he ran along the river as it was his only guide. He was not going to turn back but he was not going to try and confront Beatty again either.
He dared to look over and saw that the other was not across from him, and it didn't appear that he was following him. When he stopped, sure that Beatty was nowhere in sight, it was like he hadn't even been there at all. Montag chalked it up to his imagination but now he also had the underlying fear that the captain was lurking around in the forest eyeing him like a hawk.

Swallowing, he pressed on slowly, all his worries from before flooded back to him. He wondered if he would ever find peace at this point. Every now and again he would jump at a bird crowing or the branches of the trees creaking. Nothing had been too bad and he didn't see any signs of the shadows coming to life to chase after him.

But then, shrieking, Montag was grabbed by the shoulder and pulled back. By the time he had regained his senses he was facing the man he had seen in the shadows not too long ago, only now he was up close and not at all a shadow. He struggled from the grasp Beatty had on him and it resulted in him falling into the shallow water. The only thing that accomplished was giving Beatty the high ground over Montag.