I think when we die, we get un-cookied. I think that Genesis shows us that life is a body assembled by God and breathed into existence by Himself. Like the de-cookied state, in death God could reverse the creation process. There is no need to have a pre-existent Adam, no matter when he is brought to life. Let me rave on.
Life is a very little like bringing two magnets into proximity with each other.
At a certain point one begins to feel either the tug or the repulsion. At some distance apart the magnetic field can no longer be measured, even though it still could exist. No need to store it anywhere. In ancient times, life was thought to be in the breath of a man. That is rather easy to understand, as the most obvious difference between a living and a dead body is the lack of breath.