Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

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.

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 37 of 571

The Echoes of Home

Submitted to Contest #279

Noah stood at the edge of the forest, looking into the vast sea of trees. The sun was setting, casting long, eerie shadows. He took a deep breath, feeling the chill of the evening air. Then, he stepped into the forest, and things took an unexpected turn.He had visited the forest before, but only the edges, painting nature’s vibrant colors and serene landscapes. He never stayed long, and he was never there until dark. But this time, his anger had driven him too far.Noah was always carefree, a dreamer with a wandering spirit. He loved sketchin...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Ballad of the Gambler

Submitted to Contest #279

The following is one of several songs of unknown exact origin that circulated from person to person through the American Frontier about one of many long forgotten, some say even fabled, folks of the region's unruly past.The heat beats on without regard for prayers of escapeFrom those who gives up or has all taken by desperate hands.Yet one soul pays no mind, a numb, boiling shape. They just march on without end, drifting through desert sands. Where his destination lies is where that where is lying. For he goes long ways alone,...

13 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Always South

Submitted to Contest #279

Always South     The burning timber, the orange light, the tree shadows, I had forgotten warmth completely, and here it was again. I hugged myself and stood, rotating my body, warming myself all over and evenly. Then I laid on my back and held my feet out toward the flames until they were too warm, then I held them a little longer before cooling them down in the snow as I stood. The sizzle of snow melting, by the flames, was like the drawing of a dozen bows across a dozen perfectly tuned violins.   &nb...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Fourth Gear

Submitted to Contest #279

We were standing there at the open garage bay, studying her car. Cars and trucks were whizzing past on the interstate behind us, just on the other side of the service road. The mechanic wiped his greasy hands on a handkerchief as he glanced at the car's tags. "Your transmission won't make it back to Virginia." He shoved the hood down. The car shuddered. "I can work on it first thing Monday. You'll be on your way home Tuesday." "We're headed to Montreal," I said.If it had been my car and a different trip, I would have made some joke, sold the...

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Technomancer 1: The Aftermath

Submitted to Contest #279

The dish's curved metal dome clanked as Masa tried to lift it. She failed and it resounded loudly as it hit the ground. Her hands went to her ears while she screamed from the pain while its metallic echo bounced back and forth across the dome. She took a deep breath and tried again, but failed.In despair, she beat against the dish. "Help! Someone help me! Father?!" she screamed and burst into tears, nursing her sore hand. It couldn’t be. Why could no one hear her?Masa tried another approach. The rock was soft in one spot so she used a loose ...

23 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

Fragments of Memory

Submitted to Contest #279

Reva paused in the kitchen doorway, a hand on her hip and a slight frown creasing her forehead. She stood there, the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the window over the sink, highlighting the swirling dust motes in the air. Her gaze swept the room, her eyes flicking from the fridge to the countertops, from the cabinets to the cluttered kitchen table. "What was I looking for?" she muttered, her voice soft but tinged with frustration. It had been happening more often lately—a sense of purpose leading her somewhere, only to dissipate ...

12 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Forbidden err

Submitted to Contest #279

Thinking alone, with myself, I asked myself what I thought about the last forty-three years lived here, on this Earth. Well, I answered myself, I like living here, I really like it and probably that is why I am still alive. Then I added, you know, my dear Marina, the last forty-three years here have been really difficult, having gone through periods when there was no strength left to continue moving forward. For many years I lived with my head down, always walking down the streets staring at the tips of my shoes, as if I had a huge burden of...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Last Whisper of the Aeons

Submitted to Contest #279

On the wind-swept plains of Mesopotamia, where the first cities had risen from the clay, I once walked among the ancients. My name is Eshmun, a name lost to history, subsumed into the whispers of the dreams of men. I, too, was a man, once. But I was more than that. I was a mutant.Long before the rise of empires and the scribes etching words into stone tablets, I was a child of the soil, born under a crimson moon that hung low like a curse. My mother had said I was chosen, but she spoke through fear, not divine prediction. I was the first to ...

14 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Imaginative Lost.....forever

Submitted to Contest #279

No matter which way I turn, I am going nowhere, unless you count and recount the steps from where you were to were you are. I turned to the left then to the right, I turn north and then I turn south, then I turned east then I turned west, all to no avail. It seems that no matter how I turned and where I turned, I was never sure where I had finally turned to or onto to. I was uncertain where I was at or whether I had actually even made any progress, because I was always going in circles and it was beginning to feel like I was trapped inside a...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

End of Time

Submitted to Contest #279

The city now looked like a million burnt matches in an ashtray. I glanced towards the horizon, but realised there was none, and neither a sky, nor a sun to look up to, all life melted away, a Dali painting in the making. Later I removed my mask, and smelt what I thought was roast pork on a rotisserie, but then saw the human bodies scattered, and vomited up a plume of ash. At least the ash would dull my senses and so I engulfed it, until I could taste nothing, and my mouth was dried, and I was no more, turned to stone, a fossil in waiting, li...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Lost in a Frozen Forest

Submitted to Contest #279

Shadows danced across the inside of the small tree branch and mud shelter. Leaning back, she enjoyed the fire’s warmth. She and her three dogs had been safe enough here since their arrival.“Well, what’s next, guys?” She looked at Chaos, a black and white short-haired mixed breed, and scratched behind the dog’s ears. The shepherd mixes, Mayhem and Havoc, looked on as she rambled.“The days are getting longer, snow’s starting to melt, and maybe…” she paused, “if we’re really, really lucky, there’s a town a little farther than we’ve been able to...

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Secret

Submitted to Contest #278

The SecretAugust 1878 Melbourne VIC Australia“Lie back, Mum and try and relax. Remember the doctor told you that getting agitated would not do you any good’ Martha gave her daughter a confused look, not really knowing who she was.“I took him lunch, every day, every single day”.“I know you did, Mum. I remember”.Maggie recalled as a child her softly spoken and hardworking mother delivered her father a packed lunch every day. At the time she did not think this was strange, it was just part of their routine. She and her brother would stay with t...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Zoe the Zombie: Lost at the Amusement Park

Submitted to Contest #279

Zoe the Zombie loved the amusement park. The bright lights, the laughter, the smell of cotton candy—it was her favorite place to be. Today, Zoe was at the park with her family: her mom, dad, and her 7-year-old brother Zak. They were going to have the best day ever. Her parents had promised to let her go on all the fun rides, and Zoe couldn't wait. As they walked toward the first ride of the day, the big roller coaster, Zoe's arms flopped up and down as she skipped ahead, excited for the thrills and adventures of the day. She had always loved...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Line

Submitted to Contest #279

The Line The great huntsman in the stars throws his line across the sky. He reels in his catch, a giant bear but it snaps. The huntsman swears. He reels again he caught a crab, with a snip, he lost his garb. Again a goat, again a horse, again a fish, he lost them all. The huntsman understood and changed his line to one as strong as driftwood bind. Out he threw and caught each one. And hung them on his belt Orion. Inyuaka Kuak listened closely to every word spewed out in chilly white huffs of the aged Inuit woman. She bundled closer in her f...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Captain Squidbeard of the Soggy Sardine - Voyages of the Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #278

The pirate known as “Captain Steelwave” of the fishing boat the Soggy Sardine was sometimes called "Captain Squidbeard" by his crew.He proudly wore the sprawling flame-colored cloud that floated around his head and body.His red beard and hair had a life of their own, like a giant sea creature attacking, with curling tentacles stretching out.A green vine from his last trek in a forest and some pieces of seaweed trailed from the masses of hair hanging down his back.His eyes were like chunks of coal with embers burning. Sparks seemed to fly at ...

39 likes 25 comments 25
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.