What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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Creation Descending
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. 1980s YA fantasy - Derek leads everyone to safety from gunks [s]
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The book that I'm looking for was from a series I think of three - I only read the first. It took place underground in a series of tunnels. The 'hero' was named Derek and there were a race of creatures that also lived underground that they called "gunks". The gunks were the bad guys.
I think the book was a dystopian, post-apocalyptic kind of story where something had happened above ground and people had to move underground. I think that the gunks were slowly overunning their tunnels and so the people left were forced to move to the surface - the end of this first book was when Derek lead the people finally up a tunnel into the sunlight with the gunks chasing.
I also remember that there was another antagonist species on the surface called an ornithon? It was some kind of giant bird.
One final recollection was that the walls of the underground tunnels were at least partially made of some kind of maleable metal - although I'm not certain of that part.
I've been looking for this title for years!
Thank you!
Jeff