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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.

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 44 of 571

Ancient Artist of the Orchid Cave - Voyages of the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #273

Thirteen-year-old Nube and her slender, hairless dog with grey skin, named Gris, gasped for air and ran for their lives.In the downpour of rain, the avalanche of mud and rocks came crashing down the mountain behind them.The air was full of their cries.It was in ancient times, over 1500 years ago, in the Amazon rainforest of South America, under the dripping canopy of trees in the Peruvian Andes mountains."Over here!" Her mama's voice called and the family rushed after her."But my paints. The red ochre." Nube's high pitched voice carried over...

47 likes 19 comments 19
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Fairy Tales Can Come True

Submitted to Contest #273

A well-dressed man with chiseled features carrying a leather briefcase eases into the lobby of the Collinwood Building. Flashing a business card, he smiles congenially at Lon Lynch, the husky security guard quaffing a Big Mac at the front desk. “Hmm. Falstaff Advertising. I’ve heard of being a good employee, but you’re going the extra mile,” Lon jokes. “Your office won’t be open for another two months. In fact, none of the offices are open yet.” The man sets his briefcase down next to the desk and asks, in a refined tone, “How many people ar...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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Time-Twister

Submitted to Contest #273

Time-Twister Mavis leaned on her broom and looked over her cleaning cart to Marla. “Do you know what time it is?”Marla glanced at her watch and said, “Quarter of four.”“I hate cleaning Dr. Hammer’s lab,” Mavis said, “ever since that fire.”“What fire?” Marla asked.“That’s right. You weren’t here when that occurred. He had a Bunsen burner lit up and his cat knocked it over. It burnt half his lab and scared the university that they would lose the building. But did they do anything? No, they love Dr. Hammer because he goes on the news. The unive...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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The Center

Submitted to Contest #273

I hear the weekly Group Session starting down the hall: folding chairs dragged into place, sneakers squeaking, small talk, a flutter of laughs, then silence as Gina takes command of the room to begin breathing exercises. I’m still in Cell 9 down the hall. You wouldn’t need to be a doctor to know that I’m not currently fit to be around other people. The staff put it as nicely as they could: I’m a danger to myself and others.  But mostly others.  My fellow patients seem to have been making progress over the past few months, but for s...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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When Nightmares are alive

Submitted to Contest #273

"Don't tell anyone," demanded Kelly.         "I won't, how could I, what would I even say" cried Natalie.         Kelly and Natalie stared at each other for a few seconds until the bell rang. The girls had been friends since they entered 6th grade at Fredrick Middle School. A school so ordinary and plain that someone passing by could quickly speed right by it without even realizing they passed it. Just thirty classrooms, half of which were empty, in a d...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Thunder Riders of Yesterday

Submitted to Contest #273

“Thunder Riders of Yesterday” By Edward J. McCoulRoy Rogers squinted as the wind whipped around him. He reached for his hat, pulling it down low against the gust that didn’t feel quite right. This wind smelled strange, tinged with a scent like burning wires and wet concrete. He wasn’t in the desert, that much was clear. No more open skies. No more dust kicking under the hooves of Trigger. When he finally opened his eyes, he wasn’t looking out over the wide plains of Texas. He was looking down.Way down.Roy’s heart skipped a beat. Below h...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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Can You Keep a Secret

Submitted to Contest #273

September 1947Me and Billy had been on the road for almost two weeks as I chauffeured him to say goodbye to all his surviving friends. And for all my effort, he promised me a chest full of gold. I wasn’t sure exactly how he would deliver his promised bounty, but I wanted to see how this adventure was going to end.I had been fired from Taggart Transportation after missing a deadline in my delivery of a nuclear payload to an army test site. Instead of returning, I decided to go on this joyride with Billy Smith. He found me when ...

13 likes 8 comments 8
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A Somber Fulfillment of the Countess's Wishes

Submitted to Contest #273

The sky was littered with sparkling lights, indicating night had arrived. The neighbor’s windows were covered, no flashing of a television, no movement of shadows. The crickets chirped away as if laughing at the funniest of jokes.Shania moved towards her home, noticing the toys thrown about the yard. Her younger brother and sister, Raya and Pryor, would be in very big trouble in the morning.She adjusted her worn, dark khaki colored knapsack that continuously escaped her shoulder for the hundredth time, hoisting it with a quick huff as she da...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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The Edge of Nowhere

Submitted to Contest #273

Zane Carter didn’t trust anonymous invitations. As a journalist, he'd long learned that anything cryptic usually hid something dangerous beneath it. Yet the unmarked envelope that had arrived on his desk a week ago seemed to draw him in, as if he’d been waiting for it his entire life. **“Come to the island. We know what you’ve been searching for. You will find the answers you seek.”** There was no name, no return address, just a flight ticket to a remote Pacific island and GPS coordinates. He debated ignoring it. What sane person would follo...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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The Council

Submitted to Contest #273

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” The wind was howling and causing the ship’s bells to ring frantically. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” the deckhand continued to recite the verse of Psalm 23. The night sky had taken on an auburn hue. Annoying sea rats roamed throughout the sand of the long-gone island. The deckhand’s prayer could be heard until a path of twinkling lights presented itself. A wooden door appeared at the end of the path guar...

13 likes 0 comments 0
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Shadow

Submitted to Contest #273

I saw her several days ago. Only I refused to accept what I was seeing. She was careful, but not so careful that I wouldn’t be afforded the sight of her. Some of that care added something to her steps. She was slowed by her caution.  I didn’t have such a burden, and so I closed the distance between us over those days. That was when I had to do something about the sight of her. Think about what it was that I was seeing.  She was older than me. Something in her gait spoke of those years and there was a weariness in every movement. I ...

15 likes 6 comments 6
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Strange Noises Strange Eyes

Submitted to Contest #272

There are many strange noises in a forest on an island: the hooting of owls, scurrying of small animals, crunching undergrowth of larger ones. Or are the hooting secret signals from man-eating natives moving into position to attack? Or angry grundle barrs? Or confused ellawyns about to blow the marooned sailors into the sea. Captain Wington imagined them all."Did you hear that?" Captain Wington said.He gripped his sword tighter, peering into the spooky tree line for movement. Not that his frazzled imagination needed any proof. He "saw" plent...

51 likes 16 comments 16
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Welcome to Horror Mansion

Submitted to Contest #272

The golden leaves crunch beneath my feet as I walk through the forest toward the abandoned barn. In a few days, this place will be transformed once again into a loud, extravagant haunted house, one that appears here every year and stays until Halloween. But right now, it is just another expanse of abandoned and overgrown piece of farmland that surrounds Esteredge. A cold breeze ruffles my hair and seeps into my coat. In the distance, a single candle is lit in the decaying building. I turn around and hurry home.***Word travels fast, but none ...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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Down The Dirt Road

Submitted to Contest #273

It was a beautiful sunny day in late summer and young Danny was preparing for a bike ride down the dirt road that went alongside his house. The route traversed back into the depths of the valley for about five miles until finally coming to an end at an old farm. Very few houses lined this dirt trail and there weren’t any other children that lived in the direction he was headed. But, being an adventurous ten year old, he was just off to explore as he loved to do and do very often.Danny’s older sister Lisa watched from her bedro...

25 likes 6 comments 6
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The Night Predator's Guide to Fine Dining

Submitted to Contest #272

The Night Predator's Guide to Fine Dining  Jackson, Wyoming is a great place to be a werewolf.   My name is Giles Garnier, born in 1343 in the Burgandy region of France, purportedly burned at the sake in the 16th century and came to the mountain west with trappers in 1708. Jackson holds a ski resort near Teton and Yellowstone parks, and you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a billionaire. The woods and the rich folks make it ideal for us.  You humans may be wondering why you never hear of night predators, that ...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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