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

8450+ 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 558 of 564

We will go down with this ship.

Submitted to Contest #8

I’m almost positive we’re going to die here. Our sailing boat hit a reef some two kilometres out at sea and capsized. We spent approximately two hours trying and failing to right it once more but its wooden frame stayed stubbornly upturned, gently swaying in the waves. It wasn’t even our ship; it was belonged to a friend of John’s father — a pompous, wealthy politician no doubt. It had taken us some three weeks of pleading and promises of repayment in the form of painting the bungalow flat in the back garden to even be awarded permission to ...

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Unexpectedness of the Town

Submitted to Contest #8

30 miles away from a bustling city lived a small village. It was in the middle of nowhere, but it was renovated to the point where the town can be a city itself. This was done so that the village people don't feel so isolated from the rest. Out of the bunch, there were two children that stood out. "I got it!" called over Eric. The two kids were playing a simple game of catch. It was with a ball found in someone's dumpster. They didn't know why it was there, because it was in perfectly good condition. "Now pass it back over-hand!" said Jackie...

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One Mile of my Life

Submitted to Contest #8

Oct. 22A bead of sweat drips from my forehead as I run. I wonder how I’m still going. A small breeze is blowing now. A small mercy. I just have to take one more step. Just one more. Don’t stop yet. The sun is beating down on me as I run. I wonder how the prehistoric men did this kind of stuff. I don't know why I signed up for this.Oct.20It is a surprisingly hot day to be fall. The air smells richly of fallen leaves and cut grass. I am wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and blue jeans. I zone out trying to remember what I had for lunch toda...

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From Atop My Cloud

Submitted to Contest #8

I don't care if I ever get off this rock. Because right before I shut my eyes I can hear her heartbeat. Its soft thump sings me to sleep. I'd not exactly given up hope when I came out here. I wanted to search for a living thing. Not a person. An experience that had the qualities of a person. But it was always the lack of pure hope that dragged me down. It broke a hole in the bottom of our boat, which honestly wasn't all that sea worthy to begin with. It was this little bit of suicide which had been inside me since I was a teenager... Somethi...

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Mount Bromo: My Mercurial, Mesmerizing Janus

Submitted to Contest #8

A trip breezing by without a glitch rapidly fades into the recesses of blasé memories. This is not one of those easy, breezy journeys. It will be long remembered for poor planning, gritty sand and unmet expectations. I can now provide the ingredients for a sure-proof formula for having a blunderous trip. The first misstep is to cavalierly saunter to Mount Bromo or any other geographical region without adequate planning. This decision qualifies as either the epitome of arrogance or stupidity. As I’m sitting in the break room, J...

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The Treasure of the Jinn

Submitted to Contest #8

The year was 1920. I, James Rutherford was accompanying archaeologist Charles Kingsley on an expedition to the Middle East. Our goal was to uncover the treasure of an Arab noble whom had been struck down during the Christian crusades of ages past. Two years prior, the Great War had ended and Allied forces had occupied many of the territories under the wing of the Outtaman Empire, so though the native populace still thought ill of us (even more so due to their alliance with German and Austrian-Hungary which was in the process of being broken ...

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Desert Gold

Submitted to Contest #8

Dave turned off the highway onto the desert road, though it wasn’t much of a road, more of a trail created by off road vehicles and jeeps, it didn’t matter, they were on an adventure today to try out their new metal detector. Armed with a stack of maps he had spent a great deal of his spare time studying all last summer Dave and his wife Robin were finally here to fulfill his dream of prospecting for gold in the Mohave Desert.“They say people should tell someone before going out in the desert in case there is a breakdown or other problem.” R...

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Whale Watch

Submitted to Contest #8

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe the whole trip was a bad idea. Vanessa slumped in the tiny, gray bathroom stall, willing her stomach to stop churning. She wished for the bad taste to leave her mouth and the fear to fall away as well. The boat rocked again and Vanessa groaned. Vanessa’s daughters had been looking forward to this trip to Cape Cod for weeks. It was to be Maddy’s birthday present, since all she wanted for her tenth birthday was to “play with my cousins!” Maddy and Kenny called Lucy and Lily their cousins and they referred to Van...

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Marly's Misadventure

Submitted to Contest #8

“Make yourself useful and get up to the crow’s nest,” Darius growled, pushing a metal tube towards Marly. A heavy hand reddened by the sun threatened to cuff the smaller figure.  Marly took a hasty step backwards nearly tripping on the rope coiled at the base of the mast, much to the amusement of the other deckhands. Quickly regaining her footing, Marly moved to the mast, still a little unsteady with the ship’s sway on the water. She tucked the spyglass into the waistband of her britches and started up the ladder. The journey up was na...

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The Apex

Submitted to Contest #8

Water dripped gently from my paddle as the blade rose lazily from the water, my stroke easy and unhurried. As the opposite blade dipped delicately below the surface, the kayak moved forward, gliding effortlessly along the calm, smooth surface of the river. The air cooled subtly as I moved into the shadow of a large tree – a cypress – that overhung the water on this side of the river, then warmed again as I floated back out, the light of the sun first dimming, then fading. The current here had picked up a little, and I rested my pad...

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Pinky Promise

Submitted to Contest #8

“If you break a pinky promise, you’ll die within a year.”That’s what my neighbour, Geoffrey Collins used to say when we were kids. I’m looking at his old bedroom window from the base of the gum where his tyre swing used to be; where I’d call 'cooee!' to get him to come out and join me.There’s only the frayed top of the rope tied to the branch now. There was a persistent rumour it’s where Mr Collins hanged himself, but that’s bullshit. It was just Geoffrey’s swing.It was the shed where Geoffrey found his dad dangling.No one’s lived here ...

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Lola's Journey

Submitted to Contest #8

Lola had been planning her trip to Hudrose Haven; a secluded, tropical island, for quite some time. Lola was adventuress and daring, she thrived on excitement and loved travelling. This trip would turn out to be the best one yet, one she would never and could never; forget. 7:30am -Lola's house    Beep! Beep! Beep! Lola sprung out of bed and headed straight into the bathroom. She showered, shaved and groomed herself to perfection, there wasn’t a hair out of place; she was ready. 8:15am- Outside Lola’s house  &nb...

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The Isle Of Hurihuri

Submitted to Contest #8

Heather - Part 1 These last few weeks have sucked. Ever since the drinking incident I’ve been grounded. I always go on a trip with my friends but even after a week of begging, my parents hadn’t changed their minds, I’m still grounded... So I invited some random people from school, so I wouldn't seem like some kind of loner with no friends. Plus, mom and dad would pound more dance on me if I didn’t go anyways. Which I do not want.  José, my chaperone, stops the car near the yacht dock, I turn to him and say, “thanks.” As my ‘friends’ are...

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... Let's Go Exploring!

Submitted to Contest #8

The USS Watterson lay in utter ruin. Rubber shreds, tangled amongst sandy sticks and pebbles littered the beach as the lapping tide nibbled them into its silty depths. The Captain was unconscious, face down in the damp grit of the shore. His eyes fluttered, then opened. Desolation lay about him and his lungs burst with pain as his breath stretched full once again.  He sat up, eyeing the wreckage.  “Avast,” he muttered, salty air chafing his lungs. “How long have I been out here?” No one answered, of course. He was the last of his s...

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The old Whittaker House

Submitted to Contest #8

Dex skidded around the corner of the building and bounced off the bulk of the local overweight Sheriff, Sheriff Woods. Dex's glasses and Sheriff Woods' chocolate glazed and rainbow sprinkled doughnut both went crashing to the pavement. Dex screamed when he hit the sagging belly of authority and quickly dropped to his knees, searching for his sight. Sheriff Woods sighed and grumbled to himself, lamenting the wasted second half of his precious treat, "Stupid kids, always causing trouble." Dex found his glasses and stood up, breathlessly apolog...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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