My Fahrenheit 451 Ending Rewrite

Part 2

He couldn't believe it, he had gotten so far only for the man he spared to come and kill him instead. He wasn't going to give in that easily though; he reached his hand into the water searching for a rock or something to throw at him. But when he did, a handful of small river stones simply bounced off of the captain's uniform and onto the ground.

"Montag quit it will you or else you'll attract everything in the whole godforsaken forest here." Beatty spoke through gritted teeth, annoyed before sounding more amused. "You were so shaken that you didn't even hear me crossing the river to you."

"Are you crazy! Why are you sneaking up on me if not to kill me?" Montag didn't understand what was going on or why Beatty was here.

"Truth be told, I couldn't care less about if you're going to die or not." The man took the pipe that he always had with him and lit it before putting it in his mouth. "I can explain but you'll have to come with me."

"You're going to turn me in," Montag said very matter of factly. There was no other reason Beatty would want him to follow him after everything that happened and the captain had made everything very clear back at the flames of Montag's house that it was over for him.

"No, I'm not." He held out his hand to lift him up from the water but Montag did not reach out. The captain gave him a look before huffing out smoke that filled the air above him with the movement of a snake. "You're as stubborn and lost as a deer in headlights. I guess we'll both stand here while I tell you why I came out here."
Montag still did not speak nor move in response, only stare up at him.
"Part of me did hope for you to kill me then, as pathetic as it may sound. But I knew there was nothing left for me. Not in that city at least." Beatty admitted. It had only proven one of Montag's suspicions. He had figured something was up because why else would you try and edge on a man wielding a flamethrower? "I'm not out here for you Montag, or for your mission to bring back books. I don't care what troubles you bring to yourself. I left that city for myself." He raised his head to the sky, staring through the branches; Montag found himself following the other's gaze. "I'm sure you've noticed those bombs becoming louder, closer. I am no fool, I noticed them too. The clock for everyone in that city will stop ticking some time soon. I didn't want to be a part of that. You and I were one of the lucky few who decided to leave when we had the chance."

Montag gave the captain a sideways glance. Even though they had both left to escape their impending doom, at least Montag had left with the hope of spreading his knowledge of books to others. Beatty seemed to have no other reasons, it was almost selfish in a way.

"I'll be damned if I let myself go down with all those mindless people. It's just not fitting for me to have a death like that, marked down as a nobody in the nest of brainwashing and mindlessness. You know by now that I am surely not like any of them." He thought for a moment before speaking again, "you and I are like Tybalt and Romeo.." And he was right. Beatty was certainly like no one else, not even like the other firemen, or Montag. "Heck, my house was filled to the brim with books that no one had even checked to look for because "how could the fire chief himself have books?" He closed his eyes for a second, grinning slightly with the pipe between his teeth. "I knew what was good for me and didn't touch them, read them, let anyone inside, and definitely not blabber on about them to a bunch of women against their will."
Montag was very aware that those had been direct attacks on him. For a moment it made him think of everything he should've done differently, he was so stupid. Then he remembered the things Faber had told him through the seashell, to be careful of Beatty. Everything he did was to pry at Montag and get him to feel confused.
"That's why I came out here. I am not afraid of death. It happens to the best of us, all of us, even books. I want to find and wait for the death that's fitting for me. And you may never know what it is or find me again before it happens but you will know all that mattered was knowing that I was never an idiot, and I never will be." Beatty finally took a step back from Montag who was still on the river bed, his grin becoming wider. "Remember that; "man's knowledge allows him to obliterate his very civilization, if he chooses." More smoke poured from his pipe and filled the air. "So don't be any more of an idiot, Guy. Unless you want the rest of the world to end up like that doomed city we left behind."

The captain then gave a final glance at him before he turned and started walking along the river again, back the way Montag came from and disappeared into the night once more without another word.
Montag managed to drag himself to his feet and stood again, partially soaked still, that being a bad choice because now he was very cold but Beatty's eyes had seemed colder. Montag didn't take his eyes off of the spot where the other had disappeared. He wondered if they would run into each other again but by the way Beatty had made it sound, this was the last time they would see one another.

Montag didn't wish him good luck or good bye, he wasn't even sure if Beatty would want it. He turned and started to walk along the river as well, presumably walking farther and farther away from Beatty. He tried to push away the whole interaction so he could stay focused on finding the train tracks but the whole thing had been so strange he found it hard to put aside.