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

8550+ 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 35 of 571

Ten Deep Breaths

Submitted to Contest #279

Sensitive content such as coarse language, violence and mental health. I have to fire someone today.  My eyes fly open as I wake. I feel like I have a weight pressing on my chest as it tightens. Great, here comes the anxiety. I lie there awhile before I begrudgingly roll out of bed and ready myself for what I only expect will be a shit day. I slowly make my way downstairs where my husband has breakfast and a coffee waiting.“Good luck today. Remember, you’re a boss ass bitch,” he says as he kisses me goodbye.I sigh. I don’t feel like it ...

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Dalton's Wild Run

Submitted to Contest #279

It was a high school auditorium. The stage was set, and a large projector screen was down. There was a podium in the middle, with "Z.V" etched in the middle. The polished leather seats gave way to some very high ranking scientists. The wood floor was accented with strokes of wood, and everything was all high quality, set up for the very best. They were all gathered here for a presentation, and the one presenting was a zombie. The camera started rolling, and the presentation was on. "The apocalypse was not our fault. Are we green? Y...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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The Tiger's Den

M B

Submitted to Contest #279

Captain James Sphinx, leader of Misfit Squadron, stared out across the neon lined street, where trolley cars and autos plied the streets, the buildings all had a distinctive European design. If the young pilot didn’t know any better he’d have sworn he was in Europe. The distant hum of a jazz band seeped from the open windows of a nearby club, mingling with the scent of street food—garlicky dumplings, fried skewers, and an undercurrent of opium smoke that whispered of darker dealings. This was Shanghai, where East and West blended together.&n...

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The Albatross from the Ocean's Heart Meets the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #279

The circle of life was sweet.Each pink glow of morning led to a day of seafaring, gathering food on the islands, and meeting by the firesides for meals, tales, songs, and dances.The little girl named Lani and the boy called Kai played with the other children in the tropical forest, chasing each other through the trees, and swimming in the sea.Overhead the twelve foot wingspan of an albatross often soared.The mythic tales about Lani and Kai were discovered over a hundred years later.A saltwater stained journal from the clipper ship called Des...

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Until Satyid Voices Wake Us

Submitted to Contest #279

If my mother reaches Loki’s Star, I wonder. I wonder if she’ll remember us. Remember the day she left me on Earth, on the beach in Varkala. It was the last day of the final year of evacuation. Most of the men in our home village, my father included, had long since departed. That left my mother, Rakta, alone to care for me and my sister. After the final EVAC order was announced by remainders of Maharashtrian government — the last carrier launch, before the last evening in memory—she packed up her subzhi and cold rotis from last night’s meal ...

9 likes 3 comments 3
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The Plaything of Irony

Submitted to Contest #279

Chapter 1: FriendUnderneath a violet sun, on a hilltop, sat a man. He wasn’t watching the swelling sun descend, or the secondary reflection of the sun for that matter. Nor was he looking out over the field of trees or the forests of grasses beyond. He was far too tired of all the strange phenomena that plagued the Earth these days. No, he was unconcerned with it all, and instead busied himself with the tinkering of something in his glove. There was a time when he still found parts of the world around him beautiful despite its seismic shift f...

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The recipe

Submitted to Contest #279

“I got the recipe when I spent almost ten years stuck in nineteenth century India. You won’t even last ten days.” Archana said, her eyes locked on mine. She had just two shots of her special kala-khatta cocktail, but sounded very drunk. “Yeah, sure. A patriarchal system. No restrictions on drugs. It would be so.. hard.” I said sarcastically. “Just give me the recipe.” “Guess it,” she said with a wink. “It has lemon, yogurt, cannabis extract, kombucha, and cinnamon…definitely cinnamon,” I said.  “Eww… not even close.” She said, laughing....

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The Creature Known as Danger: One Wolf's Account of Humanity

Submitted to Contest #279

Her scent, caught on the snow-fallen breeze, was entirely new to me, but my mother knew her kind.We were in the tall-rock-place, and the scent on the wind was salt, blood, and something not quite floral that raised the ends of my thick fur with its echo touch. I had not yet survived my first winter.When I bounded over to my mother, she was weary. Did she know to whom the scent belonged?Danger, came my mother's answer, her tail stuck straight as a birch log.My mother was an old wolf, and she had spent her whole life learning our territory and...

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The Tainted Wing

Submitted to Contest #279

THE TAINTED WINGHeaven appeared to me as a realm of endless light, a shimmering sky of golden amber merging seamlessly into liquid blues. The feeling surrounding me was one of tranquility and unshakable joy, where time was irrelevant, and every breath irrepressible love.I remember the moment I descended from my sanctuary, plunging through the ether toward the fractured world below.It was within the void that I first encountered the presence of something... aberrant. The journey between realms was meant to be swift, a seamless passage through...

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A Myth Has It

Submitted to Contest #279

The remote southeastern Alaska village on a small island had been entirely spared the hardships of the Pacific siege that was laying waste to the supply chain of North America. On the mainland, society was eating itself in a perplexing violent bid to acquire material items the people here contentedly live without.The ocean provides hardship, and bounty. Among the richest waters on the planet are the cold waters along the Pacific Northwest. The kelp highway. An ancient foodie route where exploration, migration and colonization was guided by o...

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Running From The Carbon Toilet

Submitted to Contest #279

RUNNING FROM THE CARBON TOILET As I rose from the boat, my head was pounding. I heard, "How did you get here?" Did someone send you?" I had no idea who or where I was. I immediately noticed how thin and pale everyone looked—I was much healthier than they were; I could feel my strength, and they looked emaciated. They wanted whatever I had; I was just unsure what that was.  A woman approached me; she said her name was Helen. She told me I was on the coast of Somerset, New Jersey. The water had traveled into Middletown, Monroe, and Hunter...

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Mission Accomplished

Submitted to Contest #279

Must. Keep. Moving. My body wants to shut down until it can fully regenerate. One foot is crushed and I think my arm is broken. But there is no time. The soldiers shuffle down the alley, their guns darting back and forth as they pass doorways and stairwells. They pass my hiding place beneath a stack of cardboard boxes without detecting me. A pool of thick green fluid has formed at my feet. I run my hands over my torso feeling for the source. My elbow bumps one of the boxes and it shifts. The soldiers stop. I hold my breath. After a few secon...

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Vestige

Submitted to Contest #279

It started with a heat. Not the fire of pain, not the sting of torn flesh, but a bloom of warmth that rooted itself in the crook of my wrist. It spread, slow and insistent, like the creeping fingers of a rising tide. I didn’t notice it at first—not really. Adrenaline drowned out everything else. The bite throbbed, sharp and wet, its edges ragged where teeth had latched and twisted. The warmth, though—it was quieter. Patient. But now, it’s all I can feel. I press my hand to the wound as if I can hold it all in. The blood, yes, but also the pa...

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The Madman And The Doll

Submitted to Contest #279

“So, what’s the plan today?” Rob didn’t answer. He rarely did. “Good idea,” Aryen said, nodding at Rob. Rob didn’t nod back. He rarely did. Aryen pushed himself up. He dusted off his trousers and vest, both worn down after months of travel, and picked up Rob. Rob, the remnants of what had once been a G.I. Joe doll, didn’t object. That’s what Aryen liked so much about Rob. He never complained, always did what Aryen asked of him and never fell behind. Rob was the perfect survivor. The dirt specks on his goggles cleaned off, Aryen put them on a...

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The Timekeeper

Submitted to Contest #279

There was a tree, unlike the other trees around it, or any one Luke had seen before. One that stood proud, immune to the effects of war and disease. A tree so giant, that when Luke looked up, the leaves seemed to touch the sky. He wondered how old this marvel of nature was. If it had eyes, what did it see? Could it tell a story of how the world was? How did it end? After everything Luke endured, he should have felt triumphant simply for being in its presence. Instead, his heart was weighed down by guilt. It was my brother who should be alive...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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