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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.

8560+ 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 258 of 571

The Last Stop

Submitted to Contest #110

Dust devils encircle a dingy blue Pontiac Sun fire as the summer sun's rays reflect off the few exposed areas of clean finish. The looming shadow of The Last Stop diner begins to overtake the Pontiac. The antiquated eatery bakes in the scorching New Mexico heat, while inside hungry patrons fair no better. The buzzing of a single osculating fan blows hot, dry air in customer's faces; perspiration dripping from every inch of exposed skin, relief from the heat only coming from tepid ice tea and warm root beer. Swaying back and forth on hi...

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Road Trip From Hell

Submitted to Contest #110

            As I drove cautiously along a deserted road in the Virginia-North Carolina countryside, the passing scenery reminded me of the forest scene from "Deliverance." To add to the negative atmosphere, my least favorite Realtor office colleague sat next to me. The stillness on this Saturday night made me feel like a solo mortician closing up shop after the last mourner following the wake of the least popular crotchety old man in the neighborhood.  My fellow Realtor, Jill M...

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The Killing Pages

Submitted to Contest #109

TW: graphic depictions of violent acts Day 1 I answer an ad formatted like a Black Ops mission that leads me to a colorless office building.         You come      here and   read       for  money 772 Iris Boulevard The blacked-out words catch my wayward cigarette ashes like the cracked sidewalk catches raindrops in its crevices. I stare into the grey above and wonder if the job will be as intriguing as this ad. If my burnt fingertips will s...

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The Last Train

Shortlisted for Contest #109 ⭐️

“You should have just let her jump the gate,” my coworker, Angie, said. “That’s against the rules,” I sighed. That’s how all my fellow train station managers feel. If a customer’s solution is too complicated, my coworkers let them go through the emergency exit gate.  She shrugged in response.  I heard a tap on the glass and turned to find a confused-looking customer, card in hand. I hate when they tap on the glass as if I’m a fish in an aquarium. After I assisted them, I wrote “DO NOT TAP ON THE GLASS PLEASE” on a sticky note...

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Sweeping lights to Soggy rocks

J .

Submitted to Contest #109

Long blasts of boat horns lauded the quest of numbing winds leaving the calm lands for restless seas. Star-studded horizons and wavering waters had already merged together in the face of stark darkness. Foaming waves continued its relentless crashing on to the gritty shores. Tommy shrugged and rubbed his palms together as he hurried along a road past the main gates of National Coast Guard buildings, towards the armory counter. Large beams of light shooting from the eye of the lighthouse, skipping and sweeping the waters was a thing to watch....

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Picking Up a Hitchhiker

Submitted to Contest #110

September 1847  Middle of New Mexico Lost. I looked in all four directions, north, south, east and west and there was nothing anywhere as far as the eye could see. I pulled my rig over to the side of the road, if it was even a road at all. I knew I was screwed.  I did not need anyone to tell me that.   I was due at the army base at Alamogordo at oh-nine hundred hours to deliver whatever it was in the big barrels Hector had loaded in my trailer with the big old yellow stickers pasted on the sides with that strange b...

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Crimson Hills

Submitted to Contest #110

Crimson HillsBy: Mackenzie M. HebnerFreshly stained asphalt seeped into the mountain side encompassing me and my ragged apparel. The hills were before me. Everything around me was greater than me. Mountains towered over me, hills rose and fell in more consistency and promise than I’d ever known, the rocks grabbed my attention and told me of their role as protector of the earth, the animals lived along side me as if my existence has never crossed their mind as threatening, and now that I stood before them, such had not changed nor had any rea...

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Extreme Customer Service

Submitted to Contest #109

Lauren tugged on her backpack and walked through the parking lot, heading the opposite direction of the burnt out office workers. As usual their day was wrapping up just as hers was getting started. It took a special kind of person to work the overnight shift at Swifty Pizza’s corporate call center, but Lauren loved it. She made double what she would on day shift, she got to sleep peacefully while her roommates were in class, and she never had to worry about the evening classes on campus filling too quickly.  “Hey Marco,” she said with...

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Paralyzed with Fear

Submitted to Contest #110

A huge dose of gratitude has been flooding me for the past 36 hours. They always say bad things happen in threes. We are fine, but we had a scare coming into the Teton Mountains.     It was my idea for us to come through the Teton Pass as a short cut down into Jackson Hole, Wyoming even though the elevation was 8,300’ and we were towing a 36’ Montana fifth-wheel. We both felt sure our dual-wheeled Dodge 3500 could handle it. We’d been through Loveland Pass at 11,300’ a few months earlier with no problem. But there didn't ...

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Mr Tiggs Saves the Day

Submitted to Contest #109

Mr Tiggs searched endlessly for his tea towel, until he spotted in the mirror that it was stuck to his back. Bother these bristles! Taking the tongs he kept especially for such circumstances, he removed the tea towel and proceeded to dry the polished acorn cups, before setting one down on the low round dining table. He poured himself a cup of nettle tea, and settled into his most comfortable armchair. The bright early morning sun streamed in through the window as he leant back in his chair, casting an eye around the neat walls of his cosy bu...

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Where did you come from, where did you go?

Submitted to Contest #109

The first Monday that Howl opened his email, he skimmed. His vision blurred as his index finger automatically scrolled. Howl rarely digested anything from his email. Until... Howl believed the woman must have mistaken him for someone else. The email professed ardent love, compassions, and wishes. Howl was embarrassed and refused to believe the words were intended for him. The sender left no clue to who they could be. Howl spent the next several afternoons making up stories about who the couple could be. The woman had sounded heartbro...

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Jace's First Day in the Police Force

Submitted to Contest #109

xxx NYPD Building on 1 Police Plaza Jace opened the door to the NYPD Building. As soon as he stepped foot into the precinct office, he was greeted by a very short but stocky man who eerily looked exactly like Booster from the Mario RPG series. “Ahh, Jacen Riders!” he spoke with a grunting Texan accent, “Pleasure to meet you, youn’ man! Name’s Boomer. Officer Boomer Snifrit.” The two shook hands. “Boomer? Snifrit?” Jace tried not to laugh. “It’s actually Boomer Snifrit Whiffit.” he added. Jace chortled. Then a croak of pain left...

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The Descent

Submitted to Contest #108

News Print: The New State Man Attempts Heroic Feat On the 17th of October 1908, Alexis Jackson descended 1000 feet into the legendary tunnel located in Anna, New England in hopes of dislodging a monumental stone that was obstructing complete passage. This tunnel, eponymously named Anna’s Tunnel, gapes at a diameter of 6 feet and drives at a depth of 7,900 feet towards the center of the earth. Developed in 1907, Anna’s Tunnel was a high-priority project purposed by the Old Government to acquire minerals embedded deep within the earth’s c...

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Lemon and the Dragon’s Runes

Submitted to Contest #108

Hey, Tazán?”     “Yeah?”     “How much longer do you think we’ll be flying?”     “I don’t know...probably at least another day.”     Three cats crouched on the back of a massive orange dragon, surrounding a spherical globe of flame floating in the air, their only source of light. Playing cards were laid at each of their paws.      “The light’s getting low,” said the yellow cat who’d first spoken.     “Maybe I can fix that,” the gray que...

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MARS

Submitted to Contest #108

        MARS by Kryste Andrews After one full hour, Nikolai’s effort to break through Mars’ rocky exterior ends, fruitless. The raw sound of the jackhammer-like apparatus still works on Stanislav’s nerves. He grumbles, irritated by the failure to make a dent in the lava-like landscape. What a ridiculous instrument to bring on a mission of so much import. A primitive tool, like father used to wield while breaking up concrete, not sophisticated enough for space ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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