Almost certainly, Gideon was not one of those who fled with Noah before the Lamanite advance. Indeed, his character seems to preclude such a cowardly flight. Rather, it seems most likely that Gideon and those loyal to him would have stayed behind, defending the city, while Noah and those loyal to him (or those who panicked) fled into the wilderness in the opposite direction from the Lamanite advance. The fleeing population of an entire city would have presented a remarkably easy target for the Lamanites. There would have been no time to prepare to flee, so probably it was only Noah and those closest to him, either in his court or families in the immediate vicinity of the palace (or those who saw them running and raced to join them) who fled. Mesoamerican housing patterns show homes clustered in kin-based compounds. Thus, Noah could have alerted his kinsmen. As it was, even this group was destined to be caught.