As much as running has never been his style, this night's been weird enough that he's not sure he can really complain about it too much, and the prospect of getting some kind of an explanation probably means more than his pride. So he takes off - in the opposite direction from campus; he knows the neighborhood a little better than he knows campus proper, being as scholastically uninclined as he is.

He knows the terrain and he knows the hiding places, that is to say.