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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of adventure short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

8570+ Adventure Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From riding the high sea to climbing behemoth mountains, there isn’t any action that’s out of reach when it comes to adventure stories.

Adventure Short Stories – Page 167 of 572

The Glorious Gift

Submitted to Contest #194

You must have read about at least a few heart breaking stories of individuals who had to start afresh after having lost sight of their goals on the point of making the all-important grab! But the response to your effort is often immeasurable and unpredictable. It is beyond the realm of human anticipation. It is a territory of divine calculations and defies any human extrapolation. The cue is to get your act together and try to make another attempt with greater drive, leaving the past to sulk in the shadow of its own doom. The protagonist of ...

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What Does the Hawk Say?

Submitted to Contest #193

The Twins   The sun was sinking, going to bed for the night, and Alora wished she could do the same, but there were other plans in the works for her. There was no turning back from the path laid before her. Her brother had worked too hard to get her into The Academy; she couldn’t back down now.  Even as this thought occurred to her, there was a loud, “smack” against the frosty glass of her third-floor window. She jumped at the sound; she found that she was often jumpy these days. Peering out, she saw a red-tailed hawk who h...

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Super Screwed

Submitted to Contest #193

“Another job well done,” Luxia said sarcastically as she strode into her headquarters.  Scribe just nodded, while their eyes flickered across the eight computer screens in front of them, all of which displayed the fight between Luxia and Nox from various angles, some obvious security cam footage. Luxia walked to her large desk and collapsed into the chair behind it in a puff of dust. She looked down at herself in disgust. The fight had left her coated in fallen debris powder, bystander blood, and unlucky cars’ oil drippings. She peeled...

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Veronica

Submitted to Contest #194

Veronica Man wearing a Space-X tee shirt covers his brow to see better through the backlit window. He lowers his hand satisfied and enters the foyer just off the Centre Street sidewalk. May I ask a question?  He settled on the redhead with a natural wave sculpted to her face. Name tag Rosie. Rosie, who cuts your hair? One of these ladies? Melanie. She’s in the back.    Latina holding court by the basins piped…  Mel! When’s your first appointment? Half hour. Who’s asking? Gentleman is ask...

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It's The Thought That Counts

Submitted to Contest #193

Sarah picked at the remains of her cold oatmeal and slugged her lukewarm coffee, half-asleep, half-dazed at the sudden turn of events and still puzzled over the handwritten note from her late grandmother. “Tell me again exactly where you found it?” Her father asked.  “It was underneath the attic boards, back in the left corner.” “The attic above the third floor staircase?” “Yes, in the very back, underneath the window that looks toward Culebra Peak.” Culebra Peak, majestically seated halfway between Denver, Colorado, and Albuquer...

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Bob's Bad Luck

Submitted to Contest #193

Bob was a very thoughtful fellow, although he was uncoordinated. He made a lot of oversights. Even though he would try things, they didn’t always work out. Bob was a caveman, a real Neanderthal, and he loved to create. He invented new things all the time. But he would make little mistakes along the way, usually resulting in a fight, accident, or calamity, making people very unenthusiastic about his work. When he tried the T-Rex taxi, the village banished him from their valley, into a cave on the mountain. One day Bob woke up in his cave. It...

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A Nightmare Among the Mutated Plants; Tom's Escape

Submitted to Contest #193

"Nerdy plant enthusiast Tom discovers a strange plant in his backyard. But when he accidentally pricks his finger on one of its thorns, he gains the power to talk to plants. Little does he know, the plants have chosen him for a greater purpose, and as he delves deeper into his newfound powers, he uncovers a sinister plot involving a group of well-intentioned, plant-based aliens whose actions have caused a dangerous signal to be sent to Earth's vegetation. Can Tom use his powers to save the planet and restore balance to the ecosystem?" He tur...

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The Favor

Submitted to Contest #193

As Lewis finished dragging the couch to the curb, the phone in his pocket vibrated. He pulled it out, swiped the screen and a blue hologram appeared of a man with shaggy hair wearing a beanie.  “Bart, what’s the holdup? You said one-thirty.” Lewis said, rubbing his back. "It's ten past." “Dude, okay, you’ll never believe this. Cyber security shut down the galacticway just outside of Mars. Something about a skimmer chase.” After a few taps on the touch screen, a news article overlayed the hologram. The suspect was one Mac Anderson, las...

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Please Hold While I Kill a Bad Man

Submitted to Contest #193

“Hi, dear! Are you busy?” “Yes, mom. I’m in a meeting.” “Ok. Call you back later?” “Sure.” ************** I love my mom, but she is absolutely driving me crazy. ************** The back room of the brothel was a study in unhygienic habits. A thick coating of dust rested on top of sticky-looking grime. Beth counted no less than twenty used glasses and empty beer cans. The table where she sat was littered with the detritus of take-out food and full ashtrays. The smell of stale tobacco and unwashed bodies permeated the air, causing Beth to wrink...

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Consequential

Submitted to Contest #193

What began as a light tapping sound, quickly turned into loud pounding on top of the umbrella as the raindrops grew heavier and larger. The chilly wind blew the rain sideways and made it impossible for Phillip to avoid getting wet, no matter which way he stood. He stepped closer to the curb at the same time a car drove through a huge puddle, splashing muddy, cold water on him from head to toe. “Shit!” he said, “what’s the use.” He lowered his umbrella, shook off the excess water and squeezed into a small, crowded bus shelter with a dozen oth...

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The Fungus of Avery Island

Submitted to Contest #193

In the year 2043, the world had become a desolate wasteland after a nuclear and biochemical war that no one could remember the beginning of, only their current struggle. Amidst the ruins, a small group of survivors had managed to forge a fragile community on Avery Island, Louisiana. This island, once renowned for its tabasco peppers (and sauce), lush gardens and exotic birds, was now a shadow of its former glory. Among the survivors was Franz Holdenberg, a resourceful and resilient man known for his unmatched verbal and historical skills and...

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THE UNYIELDING TRUTH

Submitted to Contest #192

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE"Nate," Luke said, in an exasperated tone. "Cut the crap, man. Tell me what's really going on.""It's about Dad, about his personal life."The brothers sat across from each other at a squared, high-top table inside Murphy's Taproom. On a rainy Wednesday night, the pub was alive with listless chatter, clinking glasses, and the endless stream of alcohol.Luke drained his beer. "That's what this is about? Do I really look like I care about that man's personal life?"Nate sighed. "Luke, our father was--""Was kind of uninvolv...

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Anchored Drifting

Submitted to Contest #192

Like the unfelt infinity of a hill’s curve; distance extrapolating. The reef continues on, generating, compounding upon itself: forward in every direction I look. Endlessly. And emptily sits only the pocked skeletons, barren and devoid of the normal cluster. I’ve been here before. I can't keep away from here. The water is hot and inundated with diffuse light; the porous and bread-like rocks translucent to what seems like a flat sun wrapping circumferentially. It feels paradoxically as if the reef is somehow orbited by a towering star. As I s...

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The Ultimate Treasure

Submitted to Contest #192

Esmé sat at her desk fortified by musty gray fabric board. She paused as a fellow worker bee buzzed passed the entrance to her fortress of corporate solitude. Esmé usually wasn't distracted by the activity around the office. She was laser-focused on her mundane administrative tasks and made a name for herself as the go-to person if you needed something done quickly and efficiently. She had her priorities straight, and work was at the top. In fact, her job was the only item on the list. To be happy in this world, you needed to accumulate some...

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The Thrill of Chasing Memoirs

Submitted to Contest #192

Let’s cut right to the chase. I buried treasure.But before we get into any of that, I must introduce Mr. Forrest Fenn.In barefoot youth, Forrest Fenn explored the Blackland Prairies of Texas. With fingers probing deep, fertile soil and toes squeegeeing creekside mud, he discovered an insatiable craving for arrowheads. After a day’s crusade, he’d lay among bluestems and fly his triangular treasure, pinched between fingertips, throughout the air. The wind, slipping through Indiangrasses, lisped, “Adventure.”I first met Forrest in a classroom. ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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