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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.

8580+ 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 237 of 573

Planet NFW

Submitted to Contest #134

“Son of a,” I said out loud as I tripped and fell on my face again. I had no idea what was happening on this planet. According to all the readings, this world should have had a similar gravity to earth. The last instrument reading I took before landing my tattered ship showed the g-force would be just ten percent greater than that of my home world. I had experienced much worse conditions and was not worried when I decided to land here for some much-needed repairs. As with all terra landings I was required to recon a boundary around my land...

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A Nameless Horizon

Submitted to Contest #134

Kai sat back with his legs up on the dashboard, fiddling with a small instrument in his hands. This particular instrument was used not for picking locks, not for any kind of thievery or mischief, but rather for discovery, and exploration. It almost looked like a thermometer, but rather than gauging temperature, it analyzed all of the significant properties of whatever object one used it on.      The small ship steered itself, so there was no need for Kai to do anything but wait. Wait for what, you might ask? Well, for ano...

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Green Door

Submitted to Contest #134

Adam stared at the keyring handed to him by the estate lawyer, Saul Kroll. He felt empty of thought and emotion until that point, but suddenly had the desire to stab Saul in the eye with the large skeleton key. “Better not,” his mind whispered wisely, “your brothers are watching.” Adam Everclay was the eldest son of Juniper Rollins Everclay – the billionaire investor. His two younger brothers, Troy and David, were each two years apart. His mother, Darlene, was dead. “Well, then,” he croaked, “that seems to be that.” Everyone stood up, excep...

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Hoarding Secrets

Submitted to Contest #134

My Uncle Bart was mad. And a hoarder. I'd been convinced for years that his neglected mental health would be what dragged me back to his dilapidated house and into his troubled life. I never once considered a freak avalanche of real estate magazines, could do it too. "Take the next left and a right at Hendricks." My sister, Layla, rotated the street map for the third time. I smirked and took a right. I could have found Uncle Bart's house with my eyes closed. "Why you never had to visit the old coot when we were kids, I'll never understand."...

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The Locked Door

Submitted to Contest #134

The Locked Door “Don’t leave the bunker'.'  The words rang in the child's ear. He was no younger than 10 and was told by his parents to get into a bunker. “Whatever you do, don't leave the bunker for any reason,” said his father again. “We’re going to town to get extra supplies,” said his mother. “Be a good boy and make sure this place doesn’t get set on fire or something. We’ll be back soon. We love you”. Just like that, there was a loud bang and the steel door was locked. The kid turned around clutching his stuffed blue lobster toy ...

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Sela

Submitted to Contest #134

Sela... her name sounded just like a melody. I miss her so much! We used to talk for hours about the differences between boundaries and horizons and seek holiness and mystery in the natural world. Sela loved horizons as much as I love deserts. I know where my love for the desert was born, where I was gripped by its spell: it was in the city of dreams and legends, where imagination is law. Past donkeys and camels, veiled women and snake charmers, there was a man in a white robe. He played the strings, and the rhythm would take me on a magic r...

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Fight or Flight

Submitted to Contest #134

Seconds after takeoff I realized controllability was an issue. It was the first flight of a radio controlled, balsa wood and tissue paper covered P-47 model that I had spent months building. I was 13 years old and nearly every kid from my block was there for the event. I had gained popularity by crashing model airplanes. Before this flight I had assured my friends that things would go well this time.The P47’s engine’s throttle had stuck wide open and it was leaving the earth at an alarming speed. The engine had come from an earlier...

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Anos, The Starlight Beast

Submitted to Contest #134

The party started softly; in each home along the river, they lit their fires and started their music, filling the small village with light and sound. Slowly, as the moon rose in the sky above, the sounds and lights from the village grew. Louder and louder, the merriment sounded, filling the evening skies with laughing and joyful singing. This was a celebration that only happened once in a lifetime, and not a single soul in all of Sanctum Reach would have missed it.Carson Faraday was a young man and a captain to a small team of men. They foll...

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Name is Monk, Mames Monk

Submitted to Contest #134

EARTH: Year 2055 We people were so bloody busy destroying our homes with extra-ordinary capabilities in torturing each other’s communities and putting blames on others, that we often neglected the forthcoming dangers for existence of human species on planet Earth. Blinded with craziness for more power, we created the biological problems that even the smartest community of scientists were unable to address, forget about finding the solution to earlier blunders we committed. Yet, some of our own species have had a good heart and soul, w...

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The Land of Fairytales: The Lonely Unicorn

Submitted to Contest #134

Not so long ago, far away from the Land of Fairytales, Loki, the Unicorn, lived in the Land of Nowhere in a field of tall grass and wildflowers with brown, black, and tan horses. Like the horses, Loki had four legs, a mane, and a tail, but Loki just didn't fit in. He had two things the other horses didn’t have, a single horn on his head and wings on his back.One day, Loki felt so lonely. He ran away and left the field of tall grasses and wildflowers behind. He galloped through the forests and plains of the Land of Nowhere, looking for a new ...

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Space Cat Adventures

Submitted to Contest #134

My stomach gurgles in the engine room and I have to set down my wrench to address the emptiness. I pat my vest pockets for some semblance of food and I feel flatness.  A bag of freeze-dried barracuda strips. Beautiful. Beggars can’t be choosers though. First one out the bag and down my throat launches my body into a uniformed squirm. It’s edible enough.  The engine is fixed at last. The hull has seen better days but I’m a room over from the gravity chamber according to the blood-muddled journal of the nameless, long-deceased engi...

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TOGETHER NO MATTER WHAT

Submitted to Contest #133

We got off on the wrong foot the last time I was back home. I didn't listen to Rianne and only knew what I wanted to say. So as our conversation evolved, it was me and all me talking over anything she had to offer in the way of a peace gesture. I didn't know what the hell was going on in my head. The enemies were screaming a foul language and got me wrapped up in my own dismal moment in life. Tremors and confusion finally got to me, and I lost it and put my fist through the wall. Breathing heavy, I paused and looked at my hands. What the hel...

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When I’m Cleaning Satellites

Submitted to Contest #134

Contains language that some may find offensive. I really should have studied properly when I was at school. I could be doing a proper job now if I had. I could be a bartender, a spaceship washer, or a refuelling jockey. But no, I was too much of a smart arse to do any studying at school on Gemini III. I thought I didn’t need to do any studying. I thought I would be moving back to Earth where I could be a professional slacker; living off my father’s money once he had finished his term as the human ambassador to the Castor half of the Gemini...

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The Scarlet Thread

Submitted to Contest #134

Today was the day I feared the most. For three months, I had been living in a good friend’s rundown apartment here in Undercity, hiding like a scared, pathetic little child. I was a hunted fugitive up there in Overworld. Each year, two citizens are randomly chosen from the government database. Our number would be called, so-to-speak, and we would report very early in the morning at the Capitol on Scarlet Thread Day. By the luck of the draw, one of us would be executed in front of the Capitol before thousands of eagerly watching citizens. Tho...

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Welcome to HEATHERGATE -where the streets have no name

Submitted to Contest #134

It has been two weeks since Garrett started carefully watching the workers on the field at the bottom of the creek. This creek starts at the top of the backdrop of Mount Geneve, for some reason Garrett sensed that something was wrong. Typical man, dressed up with dark brown trousers and jacket, slim built dark brown jacket, he looked like Indiana Jones to me. No whip, no hat. His expertise in hydraulic engineering degree was telling him there was something wrong with that permanent suspension bridge. He needed to contact the builders at the ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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