Have You Seen This? Mesmerizing drone footage of empty US cities

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ZOMBIELAND, USA — Before recently, I never thought video of the United States' biggest cities simultaneously being deserted would exist. If you had tried to tell me this years ago, I might’ve laughed at the ridiculous notion of millions of people all agreeing to stay inside for the creation of such footage.

Now, however, reality is stranger than fiction, and drones have captured this mesmerizing footage of major cities empty of all people.

This footage could be from the opening shots of the film “I am Legend” or a 2012 teen dystopian flick. This might be the closest we ever come to living in a zombie apocalypse, with toilet paper shortages included.

Empty streets and highways are strange enough, but it's the little things that make this video so eerie. The deserted playgrounds make every fiber of my being want to scream, “Kids should be playing here!” Vacant baseball stadiums seem desperately in need of giant crowds and athletes on the field. It feels like memories are being lost and the world is out of order.

As strange as this footage might be, though, it also fills me with a sense of awe and love. Sidewalks and highways are empty because people are deciding to stay home. The only busy parking lots in this whole video are those connected to apartment buildings. Streets are deserted because millions of Americans want to save lives and stop an apocalyptic scenario.

As much as we fixate on people flippantly ignoring quarantine, it’s uplifting to see so many people obeying. As we do, we see signs that things are beginning to improve.

This haunting, beautiful video of the United States' empty streets is a friendly reminder that we’re all in this together — metaphorically, of course — and things will eventually return to normal.