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Dreams always seem to follow those who can't help but be stilled by fear. Alexander Fulston, Jr. found himself the father of dreams he couldn't help. No matter what he tried, at the end of the day, he found himself slumped on his beer-stained couch, covered in crumbs and self-doubt. Alex was stuck in a dead-end job, living in a cheap apartment, with no options and an inferiority complex. He was the great American Hero: a faceless nobody who might as well be dead.
Years ran by, each lacking bonuses and wives and children. Alex spent the majority of his time in front of a bright computer screen in a disinfected-white office building. Months upon months of fast food and microwavable dinners highlighted Alex's life, only to be brought down by bills and apartment inspection. Most people couldn't live like that. But Alex had no other ideas. He worked in a cubicle and lived inside a box. His entire life was mapped out by the things life handed him. So when life handed him a chance to get out of the hole he dug for himself, Alex jumped at the chance.
Ditching work for an undisclosed amount of time and packing all his most important belongings, Alex hopped onto a ship bound for God knows where. After a lifetime of monotony, he was looking forward to a break of spontaneity. He had, after all, spent hours in the bathroom staring up at the ceiling, praying for an out. Now he had it, and he would have to be a moron not to take it.
It started with a simple lottery idea begun four years ago by the department on the lower left side of Alex's office building. Soon, the lottery expanded to the rest of the departments and became a company-funded ordeal. Each week, Alex bought a ticket, and each week, Alex lost. After enough rejection, he ditched the idea and transferred his money to Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes and anything that gave his dark life even the briefest glimmer of hope.
That's where Stan Howard comes in. One of those "sweepstakes" was a medical experiment in disguise, looking for bumbling rejects to test theories and drugs out on. After a nasty run-in with a marauding group of animal rights activists, Howard's company began testing their products on stupid people. Little did he know that Alex was not your typical fat American goofball.
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