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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

6300+ Thriller Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat and holding your breath? Don’t skip our collection of thriller short stories.

Thriller Short Stories – Page 340 of 420

The Soleil Gem

Submitted to Contest #60

When the explosion occurred, they fell to the floor. The walls began to shake, and the noise was louder and deeper than they had ever heard before. He shielded her body with his own, covering her mouth with his and keeping her pinned down on the floor. There was fear in her eyes, and she trembled underneath him. She could hear glass windows smashing, doors being ripped off their hinges and terrifying screams that got caught up in the wind and taken to the next world. Her dog laid down beside her, nuzzled his nose into her hand, and feebly at...

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The des morts-vivants

Submitted to Contest #60

"I think I'll urinate on myself," she says in almost a whisper. "Gosh, I have already urinated on myself. Can you believe that?" "Do you think they are them?" she asks him. "I am not sure. The voices sound strange," he says. "What should we do?" she asks. "I'm thinking," Carl says. "You're thinking when they have intruded to our house? Can you stop thinking and do something?" "How are you expected to do something without thinking through it?" his voice is marked with irritation. "Do you have an idea what we should?" 'No!" He shakes his head...

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The last human to walk the face of the earth.

Submitted to Contest #60

 It was the type of day where you just wanted to smile and remember it for ever. The sun bouncing against my windows, creating the slightest reflections of orange and yellows on my light hardwood flooring. The mid-afternoon sky that only happens on that one perfect summer day, the most beautiful of pinks and purple blending into each other. i grip my coffee with one hand and grin towards my window "God really has the most amazing plan for us" I say to myself.  As i sit down on my couch to enjoy the rest of my coffee, it happens, my...

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The Day the Dead Died

Submitted to Contest #60

There was a vaccine. Developed in a bunker in the middle of Montana, a bunch of surviving scientists and government officials found a way to counter the infection. And the world was saved. But Gabriella Lotus knew the truth, and she would have to take it to her grave. She was the only survivor of bunker 5624. And this is what really happened the Day the Dead Died.   August 18th was a warm sunny day with a gentle breeze. In any other circumstance it would have been the perfect the day. But that was ruined by the flesh-eating cannibals th...

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The Damage was Done

Submitted to Contest #60

I wrote the date in my journal, but it may as well have been the same date since December thirty-first of 2021. The world hasn’t changed, and, in many ways, it feels like it no longer turns on its axis. The skies are steel gray. They never change, and the sun never breaks through. I saw this coming, and I ordered cases of Vitamin D. Still, even vitamins have expiration dates, and I wonder if the synthetic sun will do me any good next year. Of course, I also wonder if I even need to worry about next year. That’s a sobering thought. I’m on...

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The Unwalking

Submitted to Contest #60

I’m not stupid. When Teddy never came back from his supply run, I knew — I knew it! And four years later there he stood, staring directly at me from across the lot, his face half-eaten and gray and dead. The pharmacy stood quiet and tempting. Tall shadows wandered in the tinted windows. Unlike the thing that used to be my brother, they hadn’t caught my scent yet. That was the only thing keeping me from bolting for the pharmacy — that it hadn’t moved at all since I fell in range. You’d think the shell of my idiot brother would have the br...

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Our New Ocean World

Submitted to Contest #60

 The worst thing about everything is that all of it could have been prevented. Humanity is its own biggest disappointment.  In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, miles from what was once civilization, the hour hand strikes twelve on a wind-up survival watch. A girl sits up in her straw-cushioned bed. It’s been hours since everyone else slept, but she could not. Bleary-eyed from the darkness, she walks outside, bare-feet tapping the rough, wooden floor. She doesn’t feel the roughness, though, because her calluses are rougher. While...

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Twelve Angry Scavengers

Submitted to Contest #60

Silence in the gymnasium. Six people sat, dirty faced and exhausted, waiting for something, anything to happen. They stirred from their reverie as one to the sound of footsteps, the way a gazelle might respond to the sound of a branch breaking. Three more joined them. Two were armed, one with a handgun, one with a rifle slung casually over his shoulder. The other carried armfuls of canned produce, which he unloaded haphazardly onto a folding table and began arranging them, a single can caught moments before rolling off the table. Severa...

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The Harvest

Submitted to Contest #60

 Irene yawned and stretched in her chair. Crunching numbers and balancing the books was mentally exhausting. Her fingers were sore from typing.            “Ugh, my back is stiff.” Snap. Crack. Pop. The tension in her shoulders gave her a headache, so she decided to walk outside.            Irene loved her house in the country. Isolated and living alone, she tended to the farm and livestock. Bright sun filtered through colored le...

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Ran and Sacked

Submitted to Contest #60

I went for it because I was my stomach was eating itself and all of the grocery stores had been ransacked by the outskirt bandits and their exotic animals they walked around on with computer wire leashes. The smell made me want to puke up the drugs I was coming down from but then I'd have to face the second dark ages sober. It was already brutal enough with the elite artificial intelligence soldiers guiding citizens around like domestic animals. I had found the jar of pickles clutched in the arms of an old trampled bag who had been knocked o...

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The Monsters Within Earth

Submitted to Contest #60

I call them ‘moles.’ No, they’re not the funny-looking animals that dig tunnels underground and eat the roots from your mother's garden. These are creatures so terrifying that the first time I saw one, I pissed myself.  It all started during a global heatwave, unlike anything humanity had ever witnessed. I like to call it ‘the Heat.’ Dramatic right? Anyways, cities were left without power for weeks, the oceans steamed and left beaches littered with cooked fish, and Antarctica turned into the biggest lake in the world. Scientists worldw...

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DOOM AND ZOOM

Submitted to Contest #60

I opened my screen door just a sliver. I wanted to be able to catch a whiff of the Jasmine I planted last year. It was 6 a.m. and I was breaking county curfew. Hoping none of my neighbors saw my crime, I smelled the air deeply and then slowly, quietly pulled the door closed. The click of the latch made me squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth. I had a few hours before I logged in for my work day so I decided to distract myself from thoughts of being imprisoned for opening my door with the latest news.  Grover Grooter was my f...

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Dead Days

Submitted to Contest #60

A few weeks ago, my life was blissfully normal. The Nevada city I lived in was teeming with life. I didn't have any concerns or worries. But that seems like an eternity ago. Hard to believe it's only been three weeks. God knows what state the rest of the world is in. They blocked off Spring Valley a few days after all hell broke loose. They shut off the city's power, water, and communication. As if shutting us down and pretending Spring Valley never existed could stop this problem from going global. Dang government. I remember when...

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Spent Shells

Submitted to Contest #60

I close my eyes and try to slow my heart rate, like I read the snipers used to do in war. Still do, maybe, if there’s anyone out there fighting… Focus, damnit. My hands keep shaking, so I steady my forearms on an unbroken stretch of fence. Bullets are nearly as scarce as food, and I think I’m on my last shot. I can’t remember how to open the damn gun to check. I focus my eyes on my target in front of me. The peacock takes a few cautious steps forward, pecking at little little specks of dirt and grass peeking up through the gravel path. His l...

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Fall

Submitted to Contest #60

When she was six years old, Sunny Newsome watched a man die. She had just snatched five bucks from Ma’s straw purse and was hiding behind the pork barbecue truck when it happened. He dropped right there on the carnival midway in front of the World Famous Elephant Ears stall, and for a split second the world stopped. And then a crowd began to form around the dying man, and that crowd collectively stared while he sort of flopped around at their feet. Finally a woman stepped forward to help, but by then it was probably too late.  And ...

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