The moments following the gunshot were confusing. The four men stood slowly, each trying to work out what had happened. As Jack climbed to his feet, Katy threw herself at him, trying to check whether he had been hit or not. He shook his head, gently holding her back away from Hunter, keeping her out of the firing line.

"Hunter, darling, please… the gun." Mel implored her son, motioning towards him. "Just give me the gun!"

He didn't respond, watching as Mick climbed shakily to his feet. Mel glanced briefly in Jack's direction, before fixing her gaze on her son again. He was very obviously ignoring her by that point. Her attention flickered away, briefly, at the panic in Callum's voice.

"Mick… Mick!" Everyone turned in his direction. It was only then that they realised that Ben was lying on the ground, cradled in the other man's lap, bleeding profusely. "Get me a towel or something… I need to stop the bleeding!"

"Darling, darling… I'm here now." Mel tried again, desperation creeping into her tone. "It's OK… I'm here!"

"He needs an ambulance." Jack said, motioning towards Ben, his arm still clamped tightly around his daughter.

Mick reached into his jacket for his phone. "I'll call one."

"I'm a nurse." Sonia reminded them. "I can look at him."

"No! No one makes any calls." Hunter snapped, the gun still raised. Katy watched him, not liking the fact that it was pointing at her father, who's back was turned as he watched Ben on the ground. "No one moves."

"Hunter, he's bleeding!"

"He's gonna die if we don't get help!"

"Everyone just shut up!" He ordered. "I can't think!"

"Hunter!"

"Shut up!"

The doors began rattling violently and Phil's voice could clearly be heard shouting for his daughter. Katy stiffened slightly as Jack tugged her sideways, her eyes never leaving the gun that was trained in their direction, as Hunter jumped at the sudden noise. The tension in the pub was palpable, no one having any idea what might happen. No one could even begin to imagine what Hunter was capable of doing.

"Hunter, please." Mel tried again, her voice lower and more controlled this time. "Take a minute… take a minute and think."

From her left, Katy was aware of Callum trying to get her cousin to speak to him. She vaguely heard Ben replying, but her attention was too caught up on the weapon that was being waved around wildly to really take notice. She couldn't bring herself to worry about Ben, too scared about the implications of the situation for everyone else in the room to be able to focus on one person. Her mind leapt to her daughters and siblings, suddenly terrified that something would happen and they'd lose yet another a member of their family.

"Right… move back." Hunter ordered. "Get down."

"Just do as he says." Mick said evenly, holding out his hand to his wife. "No one else is gonna get hurt."

"Yeah, I'll do the talking. Get down!"

Katy stared at him. Something inside her – the part of her that felt no remorse for all the terrible things she'd done – told her to stand her ground. She wasn't scared of Hunter, not for herself, anyway. She was just scared of the effect that anything that might happen would have on her family.

Beside her, Jack stood his ground as well. Hunter shouted at them again, before whirling round and pointing his weapon wildly at the group on the other side of the pub. While his back was turned, Katy exchanged a look with her father, who shot her a frown and shook his head sharply.

Shirley was the only one to ignore his orders, standing determinedly behind the bar and scowling at him. Hunter turned the gun on her. They were only separated by the bar, the range far too close to mean that Shirley would stand any chance of survival if he shot her. Katy felt her chest tighten at the realisation, taking an involuntary step towards the older woman in desperation. Jack's grip on her increased, holding her firmly against his side.

"Out here now.

"I ain't scared of you."

"D'you wanna end up like him?" Hunter nodded his head towards Ben.

"Mother, just do what he says." Mick ground out. "What's the matter with you?"

Shirley turned her head, slowly, to glare at him. Then she moved towards the opposite end of the bar. Katy couldn't help smirking as the older blonde moved deliberately slowly, taking her own time and making it incredibly obvious that she had absolutely no fear whatsoever. Not for the first time, Katy was filled with admiration for her.

"Hunter, if I leave him he will bleed out and he will die." Callum said, his voice full of emotion. "Is that what you want, because that is murder!"

"Alright, you can stay."

"Good boy. Good boy, darling."

"Get down! Do it!"

Hunter didn't seem to know what to do. Silence fell in the Vic as they all waited for something to happen. Everyone's eyes were trained on the teenager and the weapon in his hands, while his gaze was flickering between different people around the room. Katy chanced a look in her father's direction, seeing the expression in his eyes and knowing that he was trying to think of a way to end their current situation.

A ringing mobile broke the quiet. From her position crushed against Jack's side, Katy knew that it was his phone and wondered who was calling. No doubt everyone on the Square had realised that something was going on and she was suddenly more concerned about her grandmother and the children than she had been moments before.

"Whose is that?" Hunter demanded. Rather than answering, Jack reached slowly into his pocket. "Don't answer it."

For a moment, Katy thought her father was going to ignore him, but then he exhaled deeply and rejected the call. She frowned at him lightly, but he simply shrugged and shook his head.

"You!" Hunter motioned the gun in Keegan's direction. "Get everyone's phones now. Now! Go on… phone's out… all of ya! Now!"

As Keegan moved around collecting up the mobiles everyone was offering up, Katy resolutely refused to retrieve hers. She raised her chin defiantly, gazing at Hunter as he took a step towards her, waving the gun again.

"Phone. Now!"

"No."

"I said–"

"I don't give a shit what you said." Katy replied bluntly. "I am not giving up my phone to you."

Hunter took a step towards her, his eyes narrowing as he moved closer. Jack attempted to pull his daughter back, but Katy shook him off and stood her ground. They stared at each other for a long time, neither backing down.

"Give me the phone." Hunter ground out darkly.

"I said no."

As the teenager jabbed the gun into her chest, Jack hastily snatched the device from his daughter and held it out. "Here… there's the phone. Just back off, yeah."

"Dad!"

Taking the phone from him, Hunter dropped it on the ground and stamped on it, shattering the screen instantly. Katy let out a furious noise and attempted to leap at him, but Jack held her back, forcing her behind him and blocking her from getting to Hunter. Angrily, she did her best to evade him, until he turned and fixed her with a serious stare.

"You wanna get yourself killed?" He snapped. "Stop it."

Clenching her jaw, she folded her arms and glared darkly at the teenager. She didn't make any more attempts to physically attack him, however, realising that Jack's grim prediction would almost definitely be the most likely option.

"What's it looking like out there?"

"There's police everywhere and they're all armed." Keegan announced from his position on top of one of the benches, looking through the window. His words confirmed what everyone had already surmised.

"Get back down now."

"Hunter, please." Callum tried again. "He needs proper help."

"Please?" Sonia added. "Please can I look at him? Please?"

"OK." Hunter relented finally. "But don't try anything."

Katy looked on nervously as her cousin moved to crouch beside Ben, talking to him softly and trying to work out how serious his condition was. He was still conscious and able to speak to her, but Katy could tell that he was in a bad way.

"Stop talking!"

"If we don't call an ambulance soon, he's going to die."

"No. No one's calling anyone." He said firmly. "No one's making any moves."

Behind him, Jean reached for her mobile on the surface of the bar. Seeing the movement, Hunter turned and reacted instinctively, squeezing the trigger. The bullet hit the bottles lined up behind the bar, smashing several of them and causing a panicked response from everyone inside the pub.

Using his moment of distraction to her advantage, Katy bent to scoop her smashed phone off the floor. Hunter whirled around again and fired off another shot. This time, however, his aim wasn't so off. Katy gasped, feeling a searing pain in her leg.

"Katy!"

Jack was immediately lowering her to the ground, cradling her in his lap whilst simultaneously struggling to pull off his jacket. He balled it up and pressed it against the hole at the top of her right thigh, which was pumping out a steady flow of blood. It took Katy a moment or two to realise what had happened.

"Holy shit…" She exhaled sharply. "That's worse than fucking chemo."

There was a snort of amusement from the other side of the pub at her words and the young woman instinctively knew that it had come from Shirley. Jack shushed her, the panic in his eyes informing Katy of how bad he evidently thought her injury was.

She thought carefully, trying to be logical, even as the pain coursed through her. She'd been hit in the thigh. There were bones, nerves, blood vessels and muscles in her leg and any of those could have been damaged by the bullet. Katy was just relieved that his aim hadn't been higher.

Katy found that she couldn't really concentrate on what was going on around her. The pain in her leg was too distracting, as were the thoughts that were buzzing about in her brain. She was vaguely aware of people talking around her, Mel and Hunter and Callum and Sonia and a phone ringing. Jack's grip on her seemed to be loosening, but that didn't really seem to make sense to her. The fact that the temperature seemed to be dropping didn't make much sense either.

Blinking a couple of times, Katy forced herself to try and concentrate as people started shouting. She tried to sit up a bit more, trying to look at what was happening on the other side of the pub, but the pain in her leg soon caused her to give up on that idea.

"Dad… Dad." She said quietly. "What's happening?"

"Don't worry about what's happening, darlin'." He told her, running a hand through her hair. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great." She retorted sarcastically. "It's not like some nutter's just shot me." Then she let out a long breath sharply between her teeth. "Dad… Gran… you need to speak to Gran. I don't want her to freak out. She needs… I need her to be OK."

"I'll make sure she's alright." Jack promised quickly.

"I don't mean… I don't just mean this. Mum and Roxy…"

"I'll make sure she's alright." He repeated meaningfully, squeezing her hand.