Hi Jeff,
Welcome to the boards. The first step is asking for help, like your doing now. Ideally, it would be good for you to go to a treatment facility where you can be detoxed. Withdrawals can be very rough, particularly with alcohol.
I understand your fear of going to meetings. Most of us felt that way at first. As far as running into someone you know, I've never had it happen to me, but AA is about one alcoholic helping another. If someone you know also has an alcohol problem and is in recovery, they are not going to expose you or tell others about you. I used to worry about that too, but I don't anymore.
Meetings go like this: Certain AA literature is read at the beginning of the meeting, there are announcements that are made, then a person who has had some time of sobriety gets up and shares their story. After that the rest of the meeting is open to others who want to talk or share.
At the end everyone gathers in a circle and the meeting is ended with a prayer. However, you don't have to be religious, or believe in God. Part of AA is about developing a faith in a "higher power," but it is a higher power of our own choice. Some people choose God, some see the group as their higher power, there are many different interpretations.
I hope you are able to get the help you need.
Juls