A young boy searches a future world wasteland for a rumored cure for his dying mother.
Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, sets out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding a crystal called "the Talisman."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Talisman_(King_and_Straub_novel)#Plot_summary
Haven't read it. Is it set in a future wasteland?
Jack travels back and forth from our world to Mid-World, which is in a parallel universe. If you've read the Dark Tower series, Mid-World is where Roland, the Gunslinger, is from. If you haven't, whereas Jack can travel between worlds by the force of his will alone, Roland uses special doors. Several clues point to Mid-World being set in a world that used to be very similar to our own, before it "changed" and all went to crap. So, from a certain point of view, it is an alternative future.
And most of Mid-World is pretty much a wasteland.
I immediately thought of The Talisman when I saw this plot summary. Still wish we had gotten the movie. I can't believe The Talisman is still in development hell after all these years.
http://www.sims2workshop.com