He frowned at Sophie, when she ordered him to un-cuff her, mouth pressing in even thinner line. "Don't speak so loud," man hissed at her while quickly thinking over his options. He could leave her cuffed until someone, something, entered building, but that would give him disadvantage of defending either of them while he fumbled with keys. If he freed her, she might tackle him and try to take the gun or something, and then run away while zombies attacked. But if she had brains, and by now Ryan didn't doubt she did (and the kind that were quite set on self-preservation, too), she probably wouldn't try to get him killed until she was free from collar as well.

So with irritated sigh, he fished out key, taking perhaps longer than he wanted with opening cuffs, since fading embers didn't light the area up enough. At her demand for means of protection Ryan battled need to let out exasperated breath. This is why he worked alone and didn't like people involving jobs. Of any kind. Protecting someone, especially if it was someone you had kidnapped, was a whole lot of trouble. And killing... Well, despite the not just metaphorical blood on his hands, he wasn't cold blooded killer. Had wanted to get away from that line of work after barely dabbling in it.

But Sophie was right, letting her go completely unarmed wasn't good. Nor was giving her a weapon to use against him later, but that was a risk he had to take. With huff, he un-clipped his knife's holster and handed it to blonde girl. He had to trust his instinct that he'd be able to disarm her, if she decided to attack him. It was better than her own gun that she'd surely fire and make lot of noise with, whereas in his hands the gun itself was weapon usable for beating zombies up into bloody pulp. Well, bloodier pulp. Hopefully.

"Go!" he told her, still in quiet voice, hearing the shuffling just outside the doors now. It would be moments later that the group would press in and Ryan, still hiding behind the junk would move towards them, seeking for best opportunity to launch offense and perhaps, observe them for a short moment to learn how much sense they had. Not too much, it seemed, but if he was right, they made up for it more than enough with lack of pain.