Write a story about someone undertaking a long, dangerous journey.

Posted in Adventure on Jun 23, 2023

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✍️ 39 stories

“Splinters and Silt” by Michał Przywara

Submitted to Contest #204

The mule died and John Barris was alone. He tugged the rope. The beast didn’t stir from the baked dirt. It might have been sleeping if not for the silence. No more broken wheeze, no more ragged clop, no more irritated snap of the teeth. All John heard now was the wind whispering promises of another day in hell.He dropped the rope, stretched, and then got to rummaging through the animal’s bags.It wasn’t his mule. It was his by rights but he didn’t own it. But he was owed it. He was owed much, oh so much, but the men in this country were all c...

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“A Desert Dream” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #204

Lost in Arizona, on the holiday of my dreams. A five-figure holiday that I saved up for, for years. Down the toilet it went, whenever my girlfriend kicked me out of the car. We had a stupid fight. She was driving, I was swearing. She blamed the heat, I blamed her personality. She kicked me out of the car, in the back end of nowhere. I’d always wanted to visit the desert. It was on my bucket list, long before I met Angel. She and I had become one of those units that goes everywhere as a twosome, whether it's advisable or not. She was more of ...

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“Portrait of a Dead Man” by Chris Miller

Submitted to Contest #204

The trapdoor groaned under the weight of his sins, hinges wheezing like a thawing lake. If the true weight of his misdeeds had been known, no scaffold could have supported him, but then none would have been needed. The crushing load, accumulated over a lifetime of villainy, would have driven him like a stake through Earth’s crust and straight into hell. There he’d have lain, sniggering at the sickened devil.Mr Dixon’s stories had provided Florence with a welcome distraction from the ungreased squeal of the cart wheels. They had shared the cl...

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“The Marine Super Computer” by Shahzad Ahmad

Submitted to Contest #204

The blue carpet of water hanging over the ocean surface pretty much resembled a beautiful wrapping paper that enlivens its appearance before the recipient, drowning him into dreamy visualizations at least until the moment of actual sighting. But what lies buried under the huge mass of water has been the subject of innumerable speculations with the character of its appealing or debasing properties far from being settled! The content inside, potentially burgeons with countless mysteries and episodic installments of monumental human interfere...

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“Hope on the Mescalero” by Jack Kimball

Submitted to Contest #204

The young man lay staked out, his arms and legs spreadeagled. He’d been dead for some time, chewed on by wolves.Jeb'd been tracking near three days on the Mescalero high desert. Endless flat grasses, peyote cactus, sagebrush, and an uncaring wind under a blistering sun. At the end of the third day, with the sun dropping in a pink, cloudless sky, he loped over a low rise and found the young man.He studied the ground. Then he pushed up his brown sweat stained Stetson, exposing a stark white forehead beneath a receding hairline. He spit, and us...

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“On the Plains of Venusia” by J. D. Lair

Submitted to Contest #204

*Brief violence and some minor gruesome details* The thunk of a hatchet into dry wood was the loudest sound Astor wanted to make in the wilderness tonight. He hesitated making a fire in the first place, but it was frigid out here and he needed to eat. A rabbit he caught earlier in the day hung from a makeshift spit. One side of the stick rested in a crevice on a large boulder. The other side sat tied to the wooden pole holding up the sun-bleached canvas he called a tent. Astor hoped the boulder and tent would provide enough cover from pr...

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“Two-Bits” by Todd Crickmer

Submitted to Contest #204

Two-Bits The day I met the Churchills, I was curled up half asleep on a muddy riverbank along with four or five other strays. We had all been captured by a smelly man and tied to a scrawny sweetgum tree several yards from the Mississippi. He was selling us to emigrant families gathering in St. Louis, waiting for the spring thaw before heading out on the Western Trails. “Look, that man has those poor dogs tied up,” I heard a young girl say. “Why would he do that?” I picked up my head to see three kids standing at the top of ...

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“Evil Evelyn’s Exotically Enigmatic Escapade (EEEEE!)” by Evie Adams

Submitted to Contest #204

Evelyn Cavendish--aka, Evil Evelyn, Cadaverous Cavendish, or just Evie--was a likely suspect for a murderer. Everyone had said so ever since she was a little girl. "You'll be the next Mary Ann Cotton," her exasperated mother once told little Evie at a family party when she was six. Mary Ann Cotton was a 19th-century murderer, though this apt historical reference eluded most everyone in the room because, of course, men get nearly all the credit, even when it comes to the nasty business of murder.It was, therefore, highly unusual and unexpecte...

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“The Adventures of Goose: Part I ” by Morgan Thompson

Submitted to Contest #204

Gasping awake, I rolled over and whisked an awful smell. My human often filled my litter box with “pretty litter” but I know my shit doesn’t smell like roses.Growling at myself for waking up here yet again, I began to stretch my hind legs. My paws hit all the walls at once. Typically, I backed into the house, perched on the side a bit to make relieving myself less taxing on my body. Instead, I had landed here face first, ass against the door. My head was fuzzy with the faint memory of chewing through the catnip mouse that had turned into a d...

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“THE UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY ” by Suruthi Sukumaran

Submitted to Contest #204

It was brass-monkey weather around Matterhorn Mountain in Switzerland. The trees, ground, and houses were covered with a white blanket of snow. The battering gusts were awful. When both members of the carriage decided to take some rest, the carriage breaks with high force. The place was crowded with hundreds of people. Some of them were sitting around small tables in groups of four with cups of tea, showing the steam from the tea. A beautiful couple an old lady and an old man were selling bread and cheese. The children were busy playing...

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“I have a gun ! ” by Dimitra M.

Submitted to Contest #204

Tony bandaged his hand with a dirty shirt, threw his fist through the glass, unlocked the door and went in. He patrolled the house, checking for living or dead. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he quickly learned that neither could be trusted. He found there was plenty of food in the pantry. Canned foods, preserves. Even water bottles. At least he could replenish his stock here. On the ground floor, there was only the kitchen where he stood and a living room. He quickly looked around but the furniture was so scarce and the rooms so small...

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“Flight to Freedom” by Gloria Dawn

Submitted to Contest #204

Flight to Freedom (based on a true story) November 1898 Chills ran down Bluebird’s spine as she heard distant rifle fire. The sound of death and destruction seemed to come from the direction of her village. Their grandfather had heard talk that the soldiers were destroying all spotted horses, considering them a symbol of Native culture. Wisely, he’d urged Raven and Bluebird to spirit their small herd of Appaloosas to a hidden canyon with rich grass and a spring-fed stream trickling through it. A rock overhang and tree-covered walls protec...

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“Through the Valley of the High School Parking Lot” by Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #204

Sam knew he had to time his escape from last period gym class perfectly. Too early and he risked getting run over by reckless seniors desperate to flee St. Anthony’s. Too late and he’d get caught by Brett and his cronies, who took gym with him but loitered in the locker rooms afterwards. He only had one ally - the ice cream truck that occasionally pulled up in the student parking lot. With enough students flinging pocket change at the truck, they’d form a line and force the traffic to slow down. With enough luck, it’d distract Brett too… H...

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“Peregrine White” by Amanda Rantanen

Submitted to Contest #204

As Susanna sat in her room watching the clock she kept smoothing down her billowy skirts and taking deep breaths. The Cuckoo Clock struck three in the afternoon, a little wooden door popped open, and out came two alpine dancers. They spun around, then quickly went back inside and the small door closed behind them. Normally, the amusing clock would bring a smile to her face but today she bit her lower lip, closed her eyes and waited for William to come back. She needed to have a serious talk with him. At last the door to the stateroom...

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“Cowboys, Indians, Zane Grey & George” by Frank Bosworth

Submitted to Contest #204

(In the late 1800's cowboys, real cowboys of the ol' West, were a dieing breed, 'til there was only one left; he had to be shot.) "Well, shoot, damn you! My piles is killin' me, an' my coffee's cold! Take much longer...I don't care how dead your aim is...I'm gonna come over an' beat what li'l lead you got outta your pencil! Hear me? Go on, shoot!" "Now that I found you, I'm in no rush. I've been looking for you a long, long, time." "You ain't been lookin' for me." "Sure I have." "No. You ...

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Write a story about someone undertaking a long, dangerous journey.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 39 stories

“Splinters and Silt” by Michał Przywara

“A Desert Dream” by Keelan LaForge

“Portrait of a Dead Man” by Chris Miller

“The Marine Super Computer” by Shahzad Ahmad

“Hope on the Mescalero” by Jack Kimball

“On the Plains of Venusia” by J. D. Lair

“Two-Bits” by Todd Crickmer

“Evil Evelyn’s Exotically Enigmatic Escapade (EEEEE!)” by Evie Adams

“The Adventures of Goose: Part I ” by Morgan Thompson

“THE UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY ” by Suruthi Sukumaran

“I have a gun ! ” by Dimitra M.

“Flight to Freedom” by Gloria Dawn

“Through the Valley of the High School Parking Lot” by Allan Bernal

“Peregrine White” by Amanda Rantanen

“Cowboys, Indians, Zane Grey & George” by Frank Bosworth

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a stranger coming to town and shaking up the order of things.

Set your story in a desert town.

Write a Western-inspired story in a new genre or setting (e.g. a space western, fantasy western, etc.)

Write a story about someone seeking revenge for a past wrong.

Contest #204

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

300

Contest entries

94

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: