Darkness Falls

Darkness Falls is the third book in the Survivors series, written under the name Erin Hunter and published in 2013.

The Wild Pack's Alpha has grudgingly agreed to take in the Leashed Dogs, which ought to settle the question of where they live, and then he discovers what Lucky has been doing behind his back. Lucky is driven out of the pack, and the novel follows him as he tries to make the best of the independence he once wanted. The ruined city after the Big Growl is not the place it was, and a lone dog has no pack to share food with, no one to stand watch and no protection from the dogs who would rather drive him off than share a territory. For the first time since the disaster he wants company, and the dogs he would choose to have beside him may no longer be available. The series continues to be narrated from the dogs' perspective, with survival treated as a practical problem of food, weather and trust.

Hunter writes animals as social creatures whose politics are as serious as anybody's, and this volume is about the cost of a reputation once it has been established.