Northway

The Northway is the highway Andy McGee and Charlie McGee encounter during their flight from the airport, a route that promises escape but makes every move dangerous. Seen curving below the terminal and later running beside their path, it becomes both a possible way to find a ride and a hazard they must negotiate on foot.

Setting and Approach

After leaving the terminal by a different door from the one they had entered, Andy and Charlie look for a way out. The Northway curves away below and to the right of the terminal, but reaching it is not straightforward: roads, overpasses, underpasses, and traffic signs complicate the way. They walk along the terminal beside a feeder road marked for loading and unloading, until the sidewalk ends.

The Walk Beside the Highway

Later, they continue along the feeder road’s soft shoulder in the dark, with the Northway to their right and below. Sodium lights shine over the highway, and cars pass them as they walk. It is almost one o’clock; the terminal is about a mile behind. Andy considers scrambling down the embankment to try for a ride in the breakdown lane, but fears that a passing police officer would end their already slight chance of getting away. Each step also sends a painful thud through his head.

The slope becomes more than a route-planning problem when Charlie loses her footing on the dry grass. Andy reaches for her, misses, and overbalances; they slide and roll down the embankment toward the Northway. Traffic is moving too fast for a driver to stop if either of them reaches the pavement. The fall turns the highway’s proximity from a possible advantage into an immediate threat.

A Route Anticipated by Their Pursuers

The pursuers consider the same geography from the opposite direction. They expect Andy and Charlie may try to hitch a ride at the ramp or take a shortcut down to the breakdown lane, and plan to cruise along until they find them. The Northway therefore serves not just as the fugitives’ possible escape route but as a place their pursuers can search for them.

Its role in the flight is defined by this double possibility: access to traffic might help Andy and Charlie get away, yet descending to the highway risks injury, exposure to police, and discovery by the men following them. The dark road beneath the feeder route gives the escape its precarious physical shape, with each possible shortcut carrying its own danger.