Emmerdale resembled a horror movie as Mackenzie managed to escape for a few moments before John caught up with him, axe in hand

Emmerdale viewers watched on as Mackenzie Boyd finally broke free from the bunker, but their relief was short-lived after John Sugden caught up with him with an axe in hand.

While John was set to leave the village with his new husband Aaron Dingle, he offered Mackenzie a lift to the train station after his explosive row with Charity Dingle

However, in a twist of events, Mack found a clue linking John to Nate Robinson’s death. John had accidentally killed him last year when attempting to “save” him.

After dumping his body in the lake, he organised Ben to come and pretend to move Nate’s belongings to Shetland where everyone thought he had started his new life.

He then pinned the death on Owen through a carefully crafted suicide note after Nate’s body was found in the lake.

Mack flicked through a scrapbook in John’s van and found a photo of John with Ben. After putting two and two together, a nerve-wracking chase ensued, which saw John actively pursuing Mack through the woods. There was a moment of relief when it appeared that Mack might just get away.

However, in scenes aired at the end of last month, John caught up with Mack and shot him through the chest with a bow before hitting his leg with a heavy rock to break it.

It was later revealed that Mack had survived but was being held captive in an underground bunker not too far away from his childhood cottage, where he and Aaron are staying.

As Mack attempted to appeal to John’s humanity by reassuring him that he’s “one of the good ones” and if he let him free then he wouldn’t say a word about everything the ex-Army medic admitted to – but after Mack’s feeble attempt to make an escape failed, John’s trust in him ended there.

John later learned about Aaron’s one-night stand with Robert Sugden through a message on Mack’s phone, and from then John’s behaviour became increasingly more erratic.

During Thursday’s (September 4) hour-long installment of Emmerdale, Aaron and John returned to the village briefly to inform everyone they were moving away.

However, after Robert made a plea for Aaron to stay, John’s jealousy consumed him. Taking Aaron back to the cottage, he drugged his whiskey.

John was already on edge after Mackenzie figured out what happened to Aidan Moore, and John admitted he’s the reason Aidan was in a coma.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie was attempting to make a break for it by pulling a brick out of the bunker wall that he was chained up to. Of course, John witnessed this through his camera and quickly made an excuse to leave.

As John hunted Mack down once more, Aaron was left on his own under the influence. Stumbling out of the cottage to find John, Aaron ended up collapsing in the woods.

John had to briefly give up his chasing of Mack as he went to try and “save” Aaron.

While there was a moment of hope for Mackenzie as he made it onto the road, he breathed a sigh of relief to be in the fresh air. Sadly, his freedom was short-lived as he lay on the side of the road in pain.

Pleading for help as a car drove past, it turned out to be John who had arrived with an axe – is Mackenzie’s time truly up?

Fans expressed their shock on social media, and on X (formerly known as Twitter), @tardisgirl93 begged: “Im spiralling like ….. I’ve never been this upset in my life over a soap….. THIS IS BAD FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH EMMERDALE WHAT THE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT MACK TO LIVE PLS HE CAN’T KILL HIM…. ESPECIALLY NOT WITH A AXE”